Calls to remove Newsmax from New York City taxi screens amount to political censorship, but Newsmax should wear the effort as a "badge of honor" because elected officials are trying to block access to fact-based reporting, Rep. Beth Van Duyne said Saturday.
"It’s absolutely about censorship," the Texas Republican told Newsmax's "The Count." "What are they so afraid of?"
"If they're going to try to cut you, I would wear that as a badge of honor," she added, urging the network to treat the criticism as validation rather than a setback.
The congresswoman also defended Newsmax’s reporting, calling it factual and wide-ranging.
"It's fact-based," Van Duyne said. "You have articles, you've got stories from around the world, and it's fact-based."
The comments come after Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal urged New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani to remove Newsmax content from taxi screens, although city taxis are privately owned.
Van Duyne said efforts to block Newsmax stem from fear that audiences will see perspectives outside a preferred political narrative.
"I don't think that these Marxists in New York want their base to see facts," she said. "They want them to continue to be spoon-fed their narrative, their versions of the truth."
She said restricting access to alternative news sources undermines public understanding.
"Get more information out to people," Van Duyne said. "That is how you educate them...having a number of different news organizations."
Earlier on Saturday, Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., slammed Hoylman-Sigal over his push to remove Newsmax from New York City taxicab screens, calling it censorship and an attack on consumer choice.
In a post on X Saturday, the Staten Island and Brooklyn Republican criticized Hoylman-Sigal for what she described as an effort to "over-regulate" taxi-screen provider Curb and "censor" Newsmax, which she noted is carried "in 60 million homes and is a trusted news source."
"If a cab rider doesn’t want to watch, they can turn it off, but that should be THEIR choice, not a leftie politician's," said Malliotakis.
Newsmax is pushing back sharply against the call to remove the network from the city taxi screens.
"This is a pure act of censorship targeting a news organization reaching over 50 million Americans regularly. Newsmax plays it straight, and that drives the far left crazy," Newsmax commented in a statement.
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