Chris Ruddy | |
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| Born | (1965-01-28)January 28, 1965 (age 61) Mineola, New York, U.S. |
| Education | St. John's University, New York (BA) London School of Economics (MPP) |
Christopher Ruddy (born January 28, 1965) is an American journalist and business executive. A political conservative, Ruddy is theCEO and majority owner ofNewsmax Media.[1]
Ruddy grew up onLong Island inWilliston Park, New York, where his father was a police officer inNassau County.[2] He graduated fromChaminade High School inMineola, New York before graduatingsumma cum laude with a degree in history fromSt. John's University, New York in 1987.[3] He earned a master's degree in public policy from theLondon School of Economics and also studied at theHebrew University of Jerusalem as an undergrad.[4] He worked briefly as a bilingual high school social studies teacher inthe Bronx, New York.[5] Ruddy holds an Honorary Doctorate of Letters from St. John's University.[6]
In 2012, theLos Angeles Times published an article entitled "Race and the liberation of Dachau" by Elliott Perlman, who interviewed the daughter of a Polish Jewish survivor of Dachau, and based on her evidence, her father himself.[7] Her father confirmed, as an eyewitness to the liberation of Dachau, what Paul Parks had described in the documentary that Ruddy had claimed to be without evidence. Ruddy then moved to theNew York Post, which he joined as aninvestigative reporter late in the summer of 1993. After initially writing about abuse of Social Security disability benefits, he focused on the Whitewater scandal involving then-president Bill Clinton.[8]
In 1995, Ruddy joined thePittsburgh Tribune-Review as a national correspondent covering the Clinton White House and other topics.[9]
Ruddy has studied as a Media Fellow with theHoover Institution. Ruddy serves on the board of directors of the Financial Publishers Association (FIPA),[10] an industry trade group whose goal is "to share knowledge of best business practices to help our members' publications grow and prosper, while empowering readers with unbiased, independent information".[11]
Ruddy is a member of the International Council, chaired byHenry Kissinger, at theCSIS, a bipartisan Washington, D.C., think tank focused on national security and foreign affairs.[12] Ruddy also served as a representative on the U.S. delegation headed by SenatorsJoseph Lieberman andLindsey Graham to the NATO 44thMunich Security Conference.[13]
In 2010, Britain'sDaily Telegraph ranked Ruddy as one of the "100 Most Influential Conservatives" in the U.S. The paper said: "Chris Ruddy is an increasingly powerful and influential player in the conservative media and beyond."[14]
From 2009 to 2013, Ruddy served on the board of directors of theAmerican Swiss Foundation, a nonprofit organization that fosters relations between the two countries. In 2015, he was elected to the board of directors of the Zweig Fund and the Zweig Total Return Funds, two New York Stock Exchange-traded closed-end funds managed by Virtus.[15]
Ruddy has been both a "Patron"[16] and a "Sustaining Donor"[17] to theWikimedia Foundation. He is an alumnus of theAmerican Swiss Foundation.[18]
Following Ruddy's work atthePittsburgh Tribune-Review, he started Newsmax with the owner of theTribune-Review,Richard Mellon Scaife, and a $25,000 investment in 1998. They raised $15 million from 200 private investors, whom they subsequently bought out (in 2000). Ruddy then owned a 60 percent stake, with the rest owned by Scaife as a silent partner.[19] Richard Scaife died in 2014 at the age of 82.[20]
Newsmax now trades as NMAX on the New York Stock Exchange, after its initial public offering on March 31, 2024. The stock had an IPO price of $10 and rose over 700% on its first day of trading—the best-performing public debut since 2022.[21] Newsmax's stock subsequently dropped 77.5% on April 2, which prompted financial commentators to label Newsmax as ameme stock.[22][23][24]
New York Post editorEric Breindel recommended Ruddy for a job at thePittsburgh Tribune-Review owned byRichard Mellon Scaife.[25] In November 1994, Ruddy was hired to investigate the story full-time by theTribune-Review.[26] In between Ruddy's departure from the Post and joining theTribune-Review, he put out a report through theWestern Journalism Center criticizing theFiske investigation as inadequate. With the help of Scaife, the Center took out full-page ads in major newspapers to promote the report (Scaife gave $330,000 to the Center in 1994–95 before ending his support).[27][28]
Ruddy's discussion of questions regarding the death ofWhite House counselVince Foster drewmixed reactions.Ruddy claimed that Park Police had staged the scene of Foster's death as described in their reports.[29] One of the officers named by Ruddy sued him along with the Western Journalism Center, seeking $2 million in damages forlibel.[30] The suit was dismissed because Ruddy had said nothing libelous "of and concerning the officer."[31]
Ruddy later built on his work on the Foster case for his bookThe Strange Death of Vincent Foster. In reviewing the book forThe New York Times,Richard Brookhiser of theNational Review called it "the St. Mark version of the gospel of the Foster cover-up: a plain narrative of the perceived failings of the official investigation, with minimal speculation."[32] Shortly after the book came out, Fiske's successor as independent counsel,Kenneth Starr, released his report from the third investigation into Foster's death. Starr also concluded that Foster had died by suicide.[33][34]
Ruddy ended his investigative reporting after foundingNewsmax, but continues to write an occasional blog while he shapes overall editorial policy. He told Jeremy Peters ofThe New York Times that his outlets provide "news that Americans in the heartland would like to see."[9]
Ruddy describes himself as alibertarian conservative and "Reaganite", although he is not registered as aRepublican.[9]
Throughout his career, Ruddy has often staked out positions at variance with the Republican Party. For example, Ruddy broke with the Bush administration on the Iraq War, and was one of the first conservatives to do so. "I came out very strongly against the war in Iraq when it wasn't in vogue, back in 2004," Ruddy toldThe Palm Beach Post. "I lost some subscribers. But we are close to spending a trillion dollars on the war and there is no exit strategy," he added. "Lots of Republicans and conservatives are not that gung-ho on the war anymore and I think we broke the ice."[35]
The Palm Beach Post interview also noted that Ruddy, disenchanted by the war and runaway federal spending under Bush, re-evaluated the Clinton years and offered a kinder view of the administration he once criticized.[36] Compared with his reporting duringBill Clinton's presidency, Ruddy eventually took a more subdued view toHillary Clinton's presidential campaign. He said she had moderated and no longer generated the same animosity among conservatives. Ruddy toldThe New York Times he and Scaife had changed their views: "Both of us have had a rethinking. Clinton wasn't such a bad president. In fact, he was a pretty good president in a lot of ways, and Dick feels that way today."[37]
In the fall of 2007, Ruddy published a positive interview with former president Clinton on Newsmax.com, followed by a positive cover story inNewsmax magazine.The New York Times said with reference to the event that politics had made "strange bedfellows."[38]
Newsweek reported Ruddy praised Clinton for his foundation's global work, and explained that the interview, as well as a private lunch he and Scaife had had with Clinton (which Ruddy says was orchestrated byEd Koch), were due to the shared view of himself and Scaife that Clinton was doing important work representing the U.S. globally while America was the target of criticism. He also said that he and Scaife had never suggested Clinton was involved in Foster's death, nor had they spread allegations about Bill Clinton's sex scandals, although their work may have encouraged others.[39] Ruddy and Scaife again met Clinton for lunch at his office in September 2008. "We had a great time with him," Ruddy said of the meeting. He added, "We consider Bill Clinton a friend and he considers us friends."[40]Forbes indicated the relationship between Ruddy and Clinton has continued and described them as "lunch chums."[41]
During a 2010 campaign swing through Florida, President Clinton departed from his schedule to make a visit to Newsmax's offices inWest Palm Beach. After a private meeting with Ruddy, Clinton toured Newsmax's offices and met with its staff.[42]
A May 2009 Sunday magazine profile inThe New York Times on the former president, "The Mellowing of William Jefferson Clinton," offered more details of the relationship between Ruddy and Clinton. TheArkansas Times said details about the friendship between Ruddy and Clinton inThe New York Times profile was the "most amazing revelation" of their profile of the former president. Ruddy told theTimes though he remained a "Reagan conservative", he had re-evaluated the Clinton presidency and suggested he had earned high marks as president for success in endingwelfare, keeping government in check, and supporting free trade. Ruddy also noted that theClinton Foundation was doing remarkable work globally.[43]
In July 2012, Ruddy was a member of the official delegation that accompanied President Clinton on his five-nation tour of Africa, reviewing Clinton Foundation initiatives in the area of health care,HIV/AIDS programs, education, andpoverty alleviation.[44]
During the delegation's visit to Maputo, Mozambique, Ruddy blogged for the Clinton Foundation website, "The Clinton Foundation demonstrates that public-private partnerships and strategic engagement of private citizens, community members, and local governments can achieve great results in health care. And as I saw firsthand today in Mozambique, this work is innovative in its scope and in its purpose – which is to ensure governments can own and maintain their own health care systems without further reliance on aid. I applaud the Clinton Foundation for bringing together groups and individuals from all sides of the political spectrum to build a world that's more equal, more sustainable, and that benefits us all."[44]
Ruddy is a confidant of Donald Trump.[45][46][47][48] While speaking withPolitico, he addressed the occurrence of significant tweets from the President on Friday nights and Saturdays. Ruddy said, "He understands the news cycle. ... It's an opportunity to get out news on a Saturday, when other news organizations aren't pushing too much new. He realizes that Saturday is a free media day for him." The story described Ruddy as aMar-a-Lago member and longtime friend of Trump's.[49]
On June 12, 2017, Ruddy claimed that Trump met withRobert Mueller to offer him the job of FBI Director just days before it was announced that he would be appointed special counsel for the Russian investigation. Ruddy did not provide any proof of this. He also claimed in the same interview that Trump was considering terminating Mueller's position as special prosecutor. However, it was not clear if this was based on Trump's comments or the comments of his lawyer made during the previous week.[50]
In July 2021, Ruddy published an op-ed via Newsmax that praised PresidentJoe Biden for his efforts to prioritize the rollout ofCOVID-19 vaccines in the United States, stating that he "inherited an effective vaccine from President Donald Trump, took it into his arms, and ran with it", and that "for the moment, we as Americans can applaud President Biden's success with the vaccine rollout. It is saving countless lives — and that is a good thing." The op-ed, however, came amid criticism of theNewsmax TV channel for having aired an interview with anti-vaccination advocatePeter A. McCullough.[51][52]
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