Newsmax is not terribly concerned that Rep. Steve King’s remarks about immigrants might be considered offensive. It is concerned, however, about making sure you know that King made those remarks at Newsmax.
A July 24 Newsmax article — headlined “Boehner, Cantor Criticize Steve King After Newsmax Interview on Immigration” — states that “Republican leaders blasted Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, whose criticism of young, illegal immigrants in an exclusive Newsmax interview were read aloud during a Congressional hearing Tuesday.” The article includes bolded links to the King interview on the lines “In an interview with Newsmax last week” and “In the Newsmax interview,” and the interview itself is embedded at the end of the article below the statement “Here’s the interview. Tell us what you think.”
This was followed by a July 24 Associated Press article on the White House’s reaction to King’s comments, in which Newsmax inserted “in an exclusive Newsmax interview” in the opening paragraph with, yes, a link to the interview. (A version of the AP article is here, which does not identify Newsmax by name but states only that King made his remarks to “a conservative news website.”)
Another July 24 Newsmax article, by Greg Richter, reports on how King “said he stood by his statement to Newsmax TV that for every valedictorian who came across the border illegally, there are 100 children smuggling drugs.”
Apparently, Newsmax has no problem with what King said as long as it’s noted that he said it at Newsmax.