What's with the changes at NewsMax.com?

Has anyone else noticed the changes at NewsMax.com? I don't necessarily mean the new web site or the new video feed and things like that, but the changes in content: It just doesn't seem as conservative as it used to. Yes, it is still much more conservative than any other mainstream news source, but it just doesn't seem to be as conservative as it used to be; they seem to have taken it more mainstream, more middle-of-road. Have they caved to market pressures, or worse, political pressures? Have they changed their position to a more moderate one?

What's more, I never saw any editorial notice or commentary about the changes or anything else. It just got changed, as if they expect the users to not notice and to continue as usual. Or as if they hoped to hide something from the users. Hmmm. . .

This concerns me because these conservative news sources help maintain a balance in the marketplace of ideas. To paraphrase a very popular radio talk show host: They are equal time. In order to make an intelligent decision regarding the issues, people need to see all sides of them and to get exposure various opinions and points of view. Sites like NewsMax and CNSNews help do that by providing a more conservative perspective than the mainstream news sources. If they start to migrate to the middle of the road, then what is the fate of the conservative view?

However, the one thing that really bothers me the most about any of these web sites is the profit motive. I'm not opposed to capitalism, in fact I'm very much in favor of it, but it seems to me that it might be to the publisher's advantage to go soft on advertisers and their ideologies, simply because they are the sources of the money. Similarly, government sponsored news sources, like NPR and the BBC, concern me for much the same reasons: reporters will be very wary about biting the hand that feeds them. (You may notice that, even though it's available, and very tempting, I have no advertising here.) Edit (11/5/2008): I've decided that a small, unobtrusive banner ad at the bottom of the page is OK, and wouldn't affect my "objectivity".

So, what I would like to see is an independent, non-profit, truly objective, news outlet. One that doesn't depend on advertising revenue for its survival; one that doesn't depend on government approprations and tax dollars for its existence. Sort of a Consumer Reports of the information market. However, the problem is how to fund such a news organization, especially since people aren't used to paying for their news.

I'm still thinking about the solution to this one; any ideas or suggestions would be appreciated.