Twenty-three prominent Jewish leaders sent a letter Thursday to DirecTV and AT&T requesting that the DirecTV reinstate NEWSMAX to its lineup. NEWSMAX gives a voice to people of faith, including Christians and Jews.

January 24, 2023, DirecTV pulled NEWSMAX from its network, citing costs. However, NEWSMAX CEO Chris Ruddy told The Stream in an earlier interview that cost was not the issue:

We have asked for a very modest little cable license fee of about $1 [per subscriber] a year. And they said that we were not eligible for any fees, even though every other cable channel pretty much gets cable fees. And from what we can see, they have 22 liberal news channels and they all get paid fees. But they said NEWSMAX was not eligible for a fee. … CNN gets $14 [per subscriber] a year from DirecTV.

It’s typical for NEWSMAX to carry religious broadcasting. “We’ll have religious ministers on talking about public policy, about faith issues all the time,” said Ruddy. “So we think that’s important.” Now the Jewish community is stepping up and standing with NEWSMAX. 

The signatories on the letter to DirecTV and AT&T stated that “As leaders in our community we represent millions of Jewish Americans. NEWSMAX has been a crucial way for us to reach our fellow Americans to share our perspectives on anti-Semitism, anti-Zionism, the State of Israel and other matters important to our community.” They add that fair coverage of the issues has been difficult to find in mainstream media. 

They continue:

NEWSMAX, however, has been an invaluable voice. … We have found NEWSMAX has offered fair coverage of Jewish issues and Israel — and has served as an important platform for us to speak out against the dangerous rise of anti-Semitism.

Read the whole letter:

Nancy Flory, Ph.D., is a senior editor at The Stream. You can follow her @NancyFlory3, and follow The Stream @Streamdotorg.