Audrey Fahlberg / January 28, 2023

Satellite Censorship?

Newsmax claims DirecTV dropped the channel to silence political speech. Is there more to the story? A Dispatch Explainer.

Society & Culture

Signage for the Newsmax on display at the National Rifle Association (NRA) annual meeting on May 28, 2022. (Photo by PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images)

Satellite television provider DirecTV dropped conservative news network Newsmax at midnight Wednesday, sparking complaints of cancel culture and censorship. Is it?

Newsmax cries censorship.

Newsmax has accused the satellite provider of deplatforming the channel for political reasons, now roughly a year after DirecTV dropped One America News Network (OAN)—another right-leaning news channel that grew in prominence during Donald Trump’s presidency.