Or a republican at msnbc . Which is harder . Whos meaner . An insiders account. Also, a cosmic cure for the science war. Climate deniers, evolution rejection, one man who may convince the up convinceble using tv. All that and much more ahead this morning. Let me start with a big question for the media industry. Who in the world would want to take on rogger aels. The king of talk news sits on the throne with killer ratings and a right wing agenda. Every successful business seems to spawn imitatoimitators. Maybe people are intimidated by the powerful ales and his boss Rupert Murdoch. A few have tried and failed and recently glen beck has shown some success expending his Online Network the blaze but even that is not currently rated by kneelsen. Maybe there is someone who has a shot at doing this. The founder of the conservative website news max, christopher ruddy, says hes ready to take on fox. I hope he has a helmet and body armor. He said hes launching news max tv in june and joins me now. Thanks for joining me. Brian, great to be on with you. Tell us what your plans are . What is it that youre hoping to do with news max tv . Well, perhaps saying that we are taking on fox might be a bit of an overstatement. I think news max wants to evolve its current Internet Business and join the world of tv everywhere. News max in many ways is bigger than fox news online. Com score which rates the 60 Million People that read news polit politics, typically has us one, two or three. We had 11. 5 million unique visitors last month. We were ahead of fox news for politics. By june, were hoping to have about 15 hours of live programming. By the end of the summer were hoping to be up to 18 or 21 hours. You told business week it will be a kinder, gentler version of fox news. Tell me what you mean about that . Fox is great at what it does and it has a really powerful audience, powerful message and audience. I think when Rupert Murdoch launched fox news in 1996, he was a genius for realizing that there was a huge market outside of the cnn world that was not being really addressed by the Mainstream Media. An that market is probably about 100 million conservative leaning americans. And i think fox news is taking in 3 or 4 million of those. Theres clearly a lot of room for news max to come in where were focused not just on politics which fox is focused on, but a lot of lifestyle issues, health, news and fi innings inial. Thats what you want to do differently, more than politics . Exactly. We would like to be more informational. Why do you think nobody has been successful at doing this yet . Its been 15 or 16 years since fox news launched and there hasnt been a complimentary channel like what youre describing. You should ask the guys that run time warner your company and a number of the other major media companies, comcast and others. When you see think about the statistics. The pew study shows 39 of americans say theyre conservative, 37 say theyre moderate. When you ask them on the issues what they believe. Theyre fairly conservative. Only 23 of americans say theyre liberal. Thats a very small number. You have most of the Major Media Networks fighting over that small market share. Speaking of fox, we talked about what you like about fox. What do you not like about fox . What do you dislike or think could be improved on . Well, i think fox by its over admission has changed programming and is trying to get back to its original mission of being fair and balanced. I think the last election people saw it as very, very polarizing. If you look back at 1996 when fox started, pew says the Republican Party had a favorability rating of 65 . Today, i believe the Republican Party is fighting for its survival and its favorability rating is 35 . Obama has around a 50 favorable rating, the republicans in congress have an unfavorable rating of around 80 . So during these years that fox has dominated sort of the republican side of the news equation, i think theres been an overall effect thats not been positive for the Republican Party. It sounds like you may agree with Gabriel Shermans book about fox news says that roger ales has hurt the Republican Party. I think roger has done an incredible business. I dont know if hes hurt the Republican Party. But i dont think that all the voices that could potentially be heard for the Republican Party are being heard. People keep saying roger is a far right or conservative. Ive never felt that roger aisles is that conservative. I think hes an american exceptionalist. He fiercely believes in American Values and wants to promote those. I think some of the programming on fox has come across to a certain degree polarizing. I think the changes that theyve made have helped them. I think youre seeing the ratings are way up. I tell you the reason im somewhat skeptical because cable and satellite providers seem to be very reluctant to add new channels to their systems. They want to remove channels, not add them. How will you go about convincing comcast and direct tv and other companies to carry news max tv . I think we have a great brand, unlike a lot of people that come on television or cable, they oftentimes have no brand and no following. We already have 15 Million People a month were reaching, 49 million in our total reach online, so i think that gives us a powerful advantage. I also think fox has demonstrated theres a huge market. How will you pay for all of this . How will you finance this . News max has a very were a very profitable company. Our Marketing Budget this year is going to be in the area of about 0 million, so we 70 million so we have an ability to reach a lot of americans to tell them about our website, our new television channel. So i dont think money is going to be an issue. One of the surprising lines in the business week profile was youre now friends or friendly with bill and Hillary Clinton. Is that right . Tell me about that . Well, i was introduced to bill clinton by our mutual friend ed koch, the late mayor in 2007, we have become friends. Ive recently got to know Hillary Clinton. I think she would make a good president pp p. They asked me about that. Im not saying im voting for her at this point. I did notice a recent usa today poll said 25 of republicans would favor her, potentially favor for her as president in the next election and i think that one of the things about the clintons is that americans admire them because of their commitment to keeping america strong and free. Were coming off several days of the cpac conference. When you look out at the republican field for 2016, possible challengers to Hillary Clinton if she runs, who do you like and not like as much . Well, my favorite is jeb bush. I live in florida. I saw how he operated as governor. He did an incredible job as governor. Hes very different than his brother. He appeals to all the constituencies of the Republican Party. But hes extremely forward thinking. He did a cover story for newsmax magazine and the headline was growth is the answer. The Republican Party if its to survive and that is a question in my mind, really has to become the party of opportunity and growth. We cant be the party of no. Hearing you talk about thep arep party makes me wonder could you support Hillary Clinton in 2016 instead . I think its a little early to make that decision. Shes not the nominee of her party. She hasnt officially announced. I would certainly consider that but i would like to see who the republicans nominate. Do you think roger will support your effort here . I dont really think its he should be supporting his network and what he does at fox. I dont think were looking for support. When i do newsmax, weve never sought the support of fox news for what weve done and weve been i think a fairly good success online. So i dont really see roger aels being a major figure in what we do. Should a network like cnn be a little anxious about a startup like this also . Well, i think we will pull from all the networks including msnbc. I want to have some really good, articulate liberals. Alan dir show wits uses newsmax as his home page for his blogs. Our readers dont agree with everything alan says, but hes really interesting, hes fascinating, hes unpredictable. I mean thats the type of thing i want to have on newsmax, not predictability. Where people can tune in and learn something and hear opposing views that are not necessarily personally attacking each other in interviews. Christopher, thank you so much for joining me today. Thank you, brian. Time for a quick break here. But as soon as i come back, a story about breaking up with Vladimir Putin. Its hard to do. Well tell you the inside story of just how hard when i return. Back in two minutes. Knows her way can run in high heels. Must be a supermodel, right . You dont know aarp. Because aarp is making finding the career you love, no matter what your age, a real possibility. Go to aarp. Org possibilities to check out life reimagined for tools, support, and connections. If you dont think ive still got it when you think aarp, then you dont know aarp. Find more surprising possibilities and get to know us at aarp. Org possibilities iwe dont back down. We only know one direction up so were up early. Up late. Thinking up gamechanging ideas, like this dozens of tax free zones across new york state. Move here. Expand here. Or start a new business here. And pay no taxes for 10 years. With new jobs, new opportunities and a new tax free plan. Theres only one way for your business to go. Up. Find out if your business can qualify at startupny. Com welcome back to reliable sources. Listen to this, right now Vladimir Putins government may be pumping propaganda into the homes of millions of americans who have no idea theyre watching putin tv. Im talking about russia today or rt. Its a cable channel that is available in a lot of homes including mine in new york and many here in washington. Were not exactly sure how many. I tried to figure out and there is no reliable number. Rt claims it reaches 85 Million People in the United States. Its owned and operated by the russian government. Here in the u. S. A lot of reporters and anchors are americans. This week there was a lot of new evidence that rt is something other thanes just an ordinary cable news channel as the crisis between the United States and russia grew ever more tense, the tone of rt was clearly prorussian and at times antiamerican. As people began to notice all hell broke loose at rt. Tuesday abby martin decided to break ranks. Before we wrap up the show i want to Say Something about from my heart about the political crisis . Ukraine and russians military occupation. This week as i work here for rt doesnt mean i dont have editorial independence and i cant stress enough how strongly i am against any state intervention in a sovereign nation affairs. What russia did is wrong. That went viral right away. One day after that Statement Washington correspondent liz wahl simply walked out of the job. I cannot be part of network funded by the russian government. That whitewashes the actions of putin. Im proud to be an american and believe in disseminating the truth. And that is why after this newscast, i am resigning. Liz wahl joins me now here in washington. Thank you for coming in . Thank you. When was the exact moment that you realized you had to leave russia today . Wednesday was the turning point. I saw censorship like ive never seen it before and, you know, certain parts of my questions being edited out. Stories that paint the opposition as strictly profascist. The right wing parts of the characterizing the opposition as a whole like that, and i think thats dangerous and i think that throughout this conflict, thats the line that he wants or the picture that he wants to portray. You say he, you mean putten. Vladimir putin. Its not as if he was editing questions out. Who was . The news director. The news director actually i had an interview with congressman ron paul and the news director wrote very specifics questions. I have them here. Very loaded questions. I could read them but i would have to go through my email. I didnt go by them because they were absolutely ludicrous but i did ask some of my own questions. One of the questions i asked used the words Russian Military intervention and when it was played they cut out that line because as we know, the kremlin doesnt want us to see it as military intervention. They want to see their involvement in ukraine as to you as a humanitarian crisis. Absolutely. Take me back a few years. You had been at the channel almost three years. What was the pitch from rt when they offered to bring you on board . I was a little curious. Whats this rt about. The way they pitched it to me, we tell they told me this would be an opportunity to tell stories that the Mainstream Media ignores. And to me, that sounded as a journalist and i aspire to be a journalist and further my career, that sounded great to me. Their motto is question more. And so, you know, obviously i knew that i knew the geopolitical stances of russia. I knew kind of the conflict there. I knew it was state funded. And but i didnt realize, perhaps i was a little bit naive, i didnt realize the extent to which it would actually be used as a Propaganda Machine. Did you notice it right away once you arrived . I think i noticed it in a way that they that the stories that are presented, that theyre picked in a way that tend to be antiwest and prokremlin to put it simply. Ive seen you say in other interviews youve seen american bashing going on there. Let me play a clip from one of your former colleagues a segment called propaganda watch. The general picture you get is that of the u. S. Mainstream media jumping on anything verified or unverified to provide russias a as an aggres u. S. Officials continue their selfrighteous tirade while being engaged in actual active aggression around the world with innocent people dying every day. Drone strikes are from violence in countries that were destabilized by the u. S. Its absolutely you should be the motto is question more. You shutly should be investigating absolutely should be investigating things, corruption, things like that, but when its done in a way to promote the the objectives, the Foreign Policy objectives of a dictatorial government, i think thats when it gets kind of troubling and i mean, theres been alarm bells all along but with this crisis in crimea, the censorship and the propaganda was hyped up to a degree that ive never seen it before and at that point, for me, that was a red line. What did you do after that resignation . We see that at 5 30 p. M. , up on youtube immediately. What did you do . Did you talk to your bosses, clean out your desk, what happened . After that, my the fuse director said, liz, can we talk. I went into the office and he said why did you do that . I said i feel uncomfortable with i voiced my concerns many times. I was unhappy about censoring that interview. I feel this is a Propaganda Machine and this is not something that i want to be a part of. It sounds like in this case there havent been repercussions since wednesday . In terms of rt has come out and i mean theyre criticized you. Yeah. Stay it was a stunt. It was a political stunt. Selfpromotional stunt. Selfpromotional stunt. All i can say is thats not true. I mean i didnt know what was going to happen. I didnt know what the fallout was going to be. I knew that it was something that i had to say. I mean i think you go into journalism, i dont know if this is a kninaive of me to think journalists should try to remain as objective as possible. I think i you know, its about disseminating the truth and certainly theres a discussion that can be had on all ends of the spectrum of journalistic objectivity, but for me, when it was so, so skewed and so far from being objective, i think the viewers and the world needed to know what the truth is about this. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you. Time for a quick break here. In a moment lets talk about the hardest job in television. Maybe the republican who appears on msnbc or is it the democrat that appears on fox news . Which one has it worse . Punditry in the enemy camp. Youll want to hear it. Dont go away. To real teeth. Theyre about 10 times softer and may have surface pores where bacteria can multiply. Polident kills 99. 99 of odor causing bacteria and helps dissolve stains. Thats why i recommend polident. [ male announcer ] cleaner, fresher, brighter every day. Where their electricity comes from. They flip the switch and the light comes on. Its our job to make sure that it does. Using natural gas this power plant can produce enough energy for about 600,000 homes. Generating electricity thats cleaner and reliable, with fewer emissions it matters. Afghanistan, in 2009. Orbiting the moon in 1971. [ male announcer ] once its earned, usaa Auto Insurance is often handed down from generation to generation. Because it offers a superior level of protection. And because usaas commitment to serve current and former military members and their families is without equal. Begin your legacy. Get an Auto Insurance quote. Usaa. We know what it means to serve. Ferguson. Welcome back to reliable sources. Im brian stelter. We who love tv news know if you want a conservative point of view turn on fox, liberals turn on msnbc. Its simple, right . Well, except you can find democrats on fox and you can find republicans on msnbc. Just in different ways. It was an interesting piece in the columbia journalism review about this week. I want to read a quote from it. While the liberal hosts of msnbc often secure conservatives those debates happen with villains not in the s