Penny Young Nance, president and CEO of Concerned Women for America, told Newsmax that the decision by AT&T DirecTV to drop the network amounts to further censorship of conservative voices.
In a recent column in the Daily Caller, Nance said the recent deplatforming of Newsmax should be a “massive warning sign for conservatives.”
On Thursday, Nance joined Newsmax’s "Wake Up America" program to discuss the dangers.
"As conservatives are often silenced on social media, our search results are repressed on Google. This has been an ongoing problem and it's just so clear. You only have really three conservative networks and two of the three are kicked off DirecTV.
DirecTV customers call toll free at 877-763-9762 to complain, demand Newsmax is returned! Oppose censorship – sign The Petition – Click Here
"We've had this conversation now with AT&T and said 'What is happening?' This is really about censorship. It's really about quieting conservative voices, and we're not at the point anymore where we're just going to ignore it. We all really need to speak up and suggest that if all the other channels are going to be used with the left, at the very least there should be an opportunity for the conservative voices. That's not too much to ask.
"AT&T has gone off the rails, and it is now a woke company. It pays for the abortion travel for its own employees. We do something that we call 'Woke Wednesday,' and we always highlight a company that is a bad actor. And yesterday it was AT&T.
"I think we need to think about where we spend our money. Let's spend our money with companies that like us. Vote with our pocketbook."
DirecTV said Newsmax and OAN were removed as "cost-cutting" measures at the same time the company reported profits last year of $2.7 billion. DirecTV claimed Newsmax was demanding "excessive fees" that would cost in the "tens of millions" of dollars.
Newsmax has denied these claims, saying it was seeking a fee of about $1 per cable subscriber per year, among the lowest fees asked for in cable, and that the total amount of the deal was a fraction of "tens of millions."
"This was never about the fees being excessive," said Christopher Ruddy, CEO of Newsmax. "DirecTV's position has always been that Newsmax of all cable news channels should never get any cable fee whatsoever, not one penny."
DirecTV continues to carry 22 left-leaning news channels, many with much lower ratings than Newsmax. Those channels get license fees.
Nance said it was difficult to determine all the motives behind AT&T's decision. And she said she had asked AT&T if anybody from the company's board spoke out about the move.
She noted: "They said: 'Well, we don't know, but…' Well you should have thought about that and actually you have a much bigger problem now. Congress is interested in this, as they should be."
Actions to Take Now
1. DirecTV customers call toll free at 877-763-9762 to complain, demand Newsmax is back on air!
2. Call your congressman or senator at 202-224-3121 and demand they stop AT&T/DirecTV's censorship of NEWSMAX — ask them to give you a date on the hearings!
3. Go to our online petition and get more info: iWantNewsmax.com.