A radical Democrat wants to ban Newsmax programming from taxi cabs across New York City.
Brad Hoylman-Sigal is the Manhattan Borough President. He’s furious because a one-minute Newxmax update is broadcast on television screens posted in the back of taxi cabs. The broadcast is part of a partnership with Curb – a company that provides content for the taxi televisions.
But the borough president hates Newsmax and wants Mayor Zohran Mamdani to breach the contract. He accused Newsmax of broadcasting politically-charged content and said we were not a credible news source.
“I urge you to summarily suspend the NYC Taxi and Limousine Commission’s partnership with Curb … and demand that Curb cease its collaboration with Newsmax as a condition of licensure given the platform’s history of misinformation and disingenuous reporting,” Hoylman-Sigal said in the letter.
However, Reuters recently announced that Newsmax was one of the top news brands in the nation.
Newsmax, in a statement said, “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.”
And Curb defended the partnership – noting that all content aired on its TaxiTV is straight news – no opinion.
“Since the launch of our Newsmax partnership, no opinion or editorial content has aired on TaxiTV. All programming has consisted solely of standard news segments reviewed to ensure compliance with our content standards,” a Curb spokesperson said in a statement.
The New York Republican Club condemned the attack on Newsmax – calling it cancel culture in the free market.
“I know the socialists want to control everything. But this is ridiculous. I don’t think anyone is getting indoctrinated by right-wing politics in the back of the cab,” the club said in a statement to New York Post.
The New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission defended Curb’s partnership with Newsmax.
“We take seriously what New Yorkers are shown on Taxi TV screens, and we regularly review that content. There are clear rules in place that prohibit material that disparages or demeans people or communities. Based on those rules, the Newsmax ads currently running on some NYC taxis do not violate TLC standards,” said TLC spokesman Jason Kersten.
Todd Starnes is an award-winning journalist, best-selling author, and host of The Todd Starnes Radio Show.
