WorldNetDaily

Infobox Newspaper
name =
owners = WorldNetDaily.com, Inc.
type = Online news site
format = Website
foundation = 1997
headquarters = Medford, Oregon
website = [http://www.worldnetdaily.com www.worldnetdaily.com]

WorldNetDaily, also known as WND, is a socially conservative news and opinion website, founded in 1997. It is currently in the top 3,064 news sites as listed at Alexa. [cite web | url = http://www.alexa.com/data/details/traffic_details/worldnetdaily.com | title=Alexa - Sites in: News | work=Alexa | accessdate=2008-09-11 ]

Foundation

WND was founded in 1997 by Joseph Farah. In 1991, after resigning as editor of the "Sacramento Union", Farah co-founded the Western Journalism Center, known for its promotion of conservative causes, with James H. Smith, former publisher of the "Sacramento Union". [cite journal| url=http://conwebwatch.tripod.com/stories/primer.html| title=Joesph Farah and WorldNetDaily| journal=ConWebWatch| accessdate=2006-10-28] In 1994 and 1995, foundations controlled by conservative financier and former owner of the Union Richard Mellon Scaife gave $330,000 to the Center.cite journal| url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/stories/scaifeside050299.htm| title='Arkansas Project' Led to Turmoil and Rifts| journal=Washington Post| month=May 2| year=1999| pages=A24| accessdate=2006-05-03] By May 1997, Farah set his eyes on the internet and set up WorldNetDaily as a project of the Center. In 1999, WorldNetDaily.com, Inc., with offices in Cave Junction, Oregon, was incorporated in Delaware as a for-profit subsidiary of the non-profit Western Journalism Center with the backing of $4.5 million from investors. [cite web | url = http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=17207 | title = "World's 'No. 1 website' goes for-profit" | work = World Net Daily | accessmonthday = October 31 | accessyear = 2006] As a result, Farah and the Western Journalism Center possess the bulk of the WND stock, but the remainder is owned by about 75 private investors. In August 2001, "Business Week" cited Farah who claimed WND had begun to turn a profit. [cite journal| url=http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/aug2001/nf20010828_333.htm| title=On the Web, Small and Focused Pays Off| journal=BusinessWeek Online| accessdate=2006-11-04] Currently the webpage has a staff of approximately 25 people. [cite web | url=http://www.worldnetdaily.com/resources/about_WND.asp | title=WorldNetDaily: About Us | accessmonthday=December 1 | accessyear=2006]

Description

WorldNetDaily is a for-profit website that provides primarily evangelical-conservative-oriented news and editorials, publishes letters to the editor, maintains forums and conducts a daily poll. Besides providing articles authored by its own staff, the site links to news from other publications. The website's Commentary page features editorials from the site's founder, Joseph Farah and other social conservative authors such as Pat Buchanan, Ann Coulter, David Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly, and Chuck Norris. It also features weekly columns by libertarians Walter Williams, Vox Day, and Ilana Mercer, as well as liberal Bill Press and pro-life moderate Nat Hentoff. [cite web | url = http://www.worldnetdaily.com/resources/columnists.asp | work = WorldNetDaily | title = WorldNetDaily: Columnists | accessmonthday = December 16 | accessyear = 2006] The site also offers products for sale, advertising these products alongside related news stories. Typically these are products sold by its related book service, WND Book Service; publishing house, WND Books; or its retail operation, ShopNetDaily. The site also contains advertisements for WND's printed magazine, Whistleblower, and other companies. WND also operates the [http://g2.wnd.com/ G2 Bulletin] , a subscription-only website described as an "intelligence resource" for "insights into geo-political and geo-strategic developments."

WorldNetDaily says it is the "the largest independent, full-service newssite in the world." [cite web | url = http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=36620 | title = "WND most popular 'political site'" | work = WorldNetDaily | accessmonthday = August 24 | accessyear = 2006] WND currently claims eight million visitors a month to its website. [ [http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=17546 Metcalf Live - Monday through Friday ] ] As of November 8, 2006, it is listed by Alexa as the most popular website in the "Conservatism > News and Media" category. [ cite web | url = http://www.alexa.com/browse?&CategoryID=29409 | title = Alexa - Browse: News and Media | accessdate = November 8 | accessyear = 2006 ] WorldNetDaily articles are often linked by other websites, including the popular Drudge Report.

From July 2000 to early 2002, WorldNetDaily offered a service called TalkNetDaily, which provided an Internet audio stream of a daily talk show by then-WND columnist Geoff Metcalf. [cite web | url = http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=17546 | title = "Metcalf Live -- Monday through Friday" | work = WorldNetDaily | accessmonthday = April 7 | accessyear = 2007]

WND has been criticized as unreliable [cite news | url=http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/375947_youngonline22.html | title=This time, the focus turns on the accusers |publisher=The Seattle Times | date= August 20, 2008 | first= | last= | accessdate = 2008-11-14] [cite news | url=http://mediamatters.org/items/200710150007 | title=CBSNews.com article contains language nearly identical to WorldNetDaily article, including falsehood |publisher=Media Matters | date=October 15, 2007 | first= | last= | accessdate = 2008-11-14] and "far-right," [cite news | url=http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080901/blumenthal | title=Jerome Corsi's Long, Strange Trip |publisher=The Nation | date= August 20, 2008 | first=Max | last=Blumenthal | accessdate = 2008-11-14] and critics have referred to it as WorldNutDaily. ["And they always carefully cite WorldNetDaily.com, even if it does come out spelled "WorldNutDaily" sometimes."cite news | url=http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.printable&pageId=30796| title=Jerome Freedom comes to Christianity at last |publisher=WorldNetDaily | date=June 14, 2005| first= | last= | accessdate = 2008-11-14] Notably, WND columnist Jerome Corsi was criticized for his publications, and Farah has defended him. [cite news | url=http://mediamatters.org/items/200808150011?f=s_search | title=WorldNetDaily founder refers to "attempted media lynching of Jerry Corsi" |publisher=Media Matters | date= August 15, 2008 | first= | last= | accessdate = 2008-11-14]

WND Books

WorldNetDaily also publishes books under the name WND Books. The imprint was launched in 2002 through a partnership with Thomas Nelson Publishers (a prominent Christian publishing house) and released books by politicians and pundits like Katherine Harris, Michael Savage, and Farah himself. The partnership with Thomas Nelson Publishing ended shortly before the 2004 election; [cite web | url = http://conwebwatch.tripod.com/stories/primer.html | title = Joseph Farah and WorldNetDaily | work = ConWebWatch | accessmonthday = November 14 | accessyear = 2006] Thomas Nelson has continued the division under the Nelson Current imprint. [cite web | url = http://www.writenews.com/2004/110504_thomas_nelson_politics.htm | work = The Write News | title = Thomas Nelson Launches Political Imprint | accessmonthday = November 18 | accessyear = 2006] The WND Books imprint was subsequently published under a partnership with Cumberland House Publishing [cite web | url = http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=40983 | work = WorldNetDaily | title = WND Books signs 'Unfit for Command' author | accessmonthday = November 21 | accessyear = 2006] and released books by Jerome Corsi, Tom Tancredo and Ken Blackwell, among other authors. In 2007, Los Angeles-based conservative publisher World Ahead Publishing became the publisher of WND Books. [cite web | url = http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=52262 | work = WorldNetDaily | title = New publishing partner for WND Books | accessmonthday = November 23 | accessyear = 2006] In January 2008, WND announced it had acquired World Ahead Media. [cite web | url = http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=59826 | work = WorldNetDaily | title = WND acquires World Ahead Media | accessmonthday = February 24 | accessyear = 2008]

Congressman Jim Welker controversy

In March 2006 Republican Colorado State Representative Jim Welker was criticized for forwarding a WorldNetDaily commentary by Jesse Lee Peterson. [cite web | url = http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=46440 | work = WorldNetDaily | title = Moral poverty costs blacks in New Orleans | accessmonthday = November 22 | accessyear = 2006] Congressmen criticized Welker for uncritically sending a copy of the article by email, which included the statements "President Bush is not to blame for the rampant immorality of blacks" and accused "welfare-pampered blacks" of waiting for the federal government to save them from Hurricane Katrina. Welker stated that he did not agree with everything in the article. He said that the reason he sent it was because of its message "about society victimizing people by making them dependent on government programs." [cite web | url = http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_4857415,00.html | work = Rocky Mountain News | title = Racially charged e-mail stirs outrage | accessmonthday = December 17 | accessyear = 2006 ]

Web filtering

WND often battles what it says is unfair blocks by common web filtering applications. For example, Net Nanny blocks WND for "hate / violence" content. [ [http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=56438 WND fans "still" battling blocks ] ] At different times, organizations such as the U.S. Marine Corps, U.S. Navy, and American Airlines have blocked WND.Fact|date=March 2008

Controversial articles

WND has published many articles that have created controversies and criticism of the site by other media outlets. Some of these include:

9/11 attacks

On September 13 2001, WND published a commentary by Anthony C. LoBaido regarding the terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington two days earlier. In his column, LoBaido outlined what he regarded as the moral depravity of America in general and New York in particular, asking whether "God (has) raised up Shiite Islam as a sword against America". [cite web | url = http://web.archive.org/web/20010917014615/http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=24458 | title = Judgement Day in Mystery Babylon? | work = WorldNetDaily | accessmonthday = September 13 | accessyear = 2001] Commentators Virginia Postrel of "Reason" magazine and James Taranto of the "Wall Street Journal" criticized LoBaido and Joseph Farah for the piece and called for columnists Hugh Hewitt and Bill O'Reilly to sever their ties with WND, prompting Farah to respond with a column of his own denouncing Postrel and Taranto as "political correctness police". [cite web | url = http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=24670 | title = The "new" political correctness police | work = WorldNetDaily | accessmonthday = September 26 | accessyear = 2001]

Valerie Plame leak

WND has also published controversial claims about the Plame leak. A 2005 report by progressive media-watchdog group Media Matters for America includes the following quote from a WND article:

quotation|Maj. Gen. Paul Vallely told "WorldNetDaily" that Wilson mentioned Plame's status as a CIA employee over the course of at least three, possibly five, conversations in 2002 in the Fox News Channel's "green room" in Washington, D.C., as they waited to appear on air as analysts.
...

Vallely says, according to his recollection, Wilson mentioned his wife's job in the spring of 2002 -- more than a year before Robert Novak's July 14 2003, column identified her, citing senior administration officials, as "an Agency operative on weapons of mass destruction." [cite web | url = http://mediamatters.org/items/200511090011 | title = "Two years into leak investigation, Gen. Vallely suddenly claims, in contradictory statements, that Wilson revealed Plame's identity to him" | work = Media Matters for America | accessmonthday = November 29 | accessyear = 2005]

As noted above Vallely said he was told once in the spring of 2002, but on November 9 2005, WND reported:

quotation|After recalling further over the weekend his contacts with Wilson, Vallely says now it was on just one occasion – the first of several conversations – that the ambassador revealed his wife's employment with the CIA and that it likely occurred some time in the late summer or early fall of 2002.

He is certain, he says, the conversation took place in 2002. [cite web | url = http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=47289 | title = "General wants Wilson apology Threatened again with lawsuit over claim of 'outing' CIA wife" | work = WorldNetDaily | accessmonthday = November 29 | accessyear = 2005]

Middle East reporting

In early 2005, WND hired Aaron Klein to run a Jerusalem bureau. [cite web | url = http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=42535 | title = WND to open Jerusalem bureau | work = WorldNetDaily | accessmonthday = January 21 | accessyear = 2007] ConWebWatch, a website critical of conservative new media, in early 2006 alleged that Klein's articles promoted the causes of Israeli settlers in the West Bank and Gaza who opposed Israel's unilateral disengagement plan from those areas. [cite web | url = http://conwebwatch.tripod.com/stories/2006/wndklein.html | title = Something to Hide | author = Krepel, Terry | work = ConWebWatch | accessmonthday = January 23 | accessyear = 2007] The group also argued that Klein did not disclose the ties of Israeli activists tied to the far-right Kach and Kahane Chai movement. [cite web | url = http://conwebwatch.tripod.com/stories/2005/wndgaza.html | author = Krepel, Terry | title = Where the Killer Is A Victim = work = ConWebWatch | accessmonthday = January 26 | accessyear = 2007] When Eden Natan-Zada shot and killed four people on a bus in Gaza on August 4, 2005, he was beaten to death afterwards by a crowd that witnessed the shooting. Klein wrote an article for WND claiming that Zada was "murdered" by a "mob of Palestinians" after the shooting, although he also mentioned that police called the shooting a "Jewish terror attack." [cite web | url = http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=45608 | title = Arab mob lynches Israeli who killed 4 | work = WorldNetDaily | author = Klein, Aaron | accessmonthday = January 26 | accessyear = 2007] Klein has also written numerous articles critical of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. [cite web | url = http://conwebwatch.tripod.com/stories/2006/wndolmert2.html | title = WorldNetDaily Undermines Olmert | author = Krepel, Terry | work = ConWebWatch | accessmonthday = January 23 | accessyear = 2007]

Terri Schiavo case

WorldNetDaily published numerous stories about the Terri Schiavo case. Its articles generally supported Terri Schiavo's parents against her husband, Michael Schiavo. [cite web | url = http://conwebwatch.tripod.com/stories/2005/schiavo3.html | work = ConWebWatch | author = Krepel, Terry | title = A Less-Than-Whole Story | accessmonthday = January 26 | accessyear = 2007] (WND did, however, modify at least one story following criticism to this effect. [cite web | url = http://conwebwatch.tripod.com/stories/2005/schiavo3.html | work = ConWebWatch | author = Krepel, Terry | title = A Less-Than-Whole Story | accessmonthday = January 26 | accessyear = 2007] ) Diana Lynne, who "covered the Terri Schiavo story for three years as a reporter and news editor for WorldNetDaily," [cite web | url = http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=46875 | title = 'Terri's Story' author on Farah show | work = WorldNetDaily | accessmonthday = January 26 | accessyear = 2007] wrote a [http://www.cumberlandhouse.com/wndbooks/books/terrisstory.asp book] , published by WND Books, that showed a similar bias toward Terri Schiavo's parents and against Michael Schiavo. [cite web | url = http://conwebwatch.tripod.com/stories/2005/terristory.html | title = Another Less-Than-Whole Story | author = Krepel, Terry |work = ConWebWatch | accessmonthday = March 16 | accessyear = 2008]

Litvinenko and terrorism conspiracy

On December 3 2006 a WND article said that: "Reports that KGB defector Alexander Litvinenko converted to Islam before his mysterious poisoning with radioactive polonium 210 is raising suspicions that he may have been involved in a plot to smuggle the deadly substance to terrorist groups." [cite news | url=http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=53208 | title=Radioactive spy Islamic convert?|publisher=WorldNetDaily | date=December 3, 2006 | first=Joseph | last=Farah | accessdate = 2006-12-14] According to an article in "The Times", apparently mentioning the WND article, the evidence for these suspicions was "gossip from his Muslim next-door neighbour."cite news | url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,6-2486880,00.html | title=Emergency! I've been poisoned by speculation |publisher=The Times | date=December 5, 2006 | first=Mick | last=Hume | accessdate = 2006-12-14]

Anglo-Saxon identity

A commentary by Canadian evangelical Tristan Emmanuel [ [http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=56300 WorldNetDaily: The tragedy of Anglo-Saxon self-hatred ] ] decried so called "Anglo-Saxon self-hatred" in Canada and the United States, and used "warring factions" of third world immigrants as a base against multiculturalism in order to suggest a whites-only immigration policy for North America.

Alleged North American Union

During the debate over the failed 2007 Immigration Bill, WND popularized opposition to an alleged "North American Union (NAU)", a dystopian vision of a future America merged with Mexico. [http://wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=52063] WND blames a "shadow government" in the form of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) for the alleged NAU plot. CFR Conspiracy theories are not a new phenomenon. The "North American Union" is considered a conspiracy theory by popular social conservatives such as Michael Medved [http://michaelmedved.townhall.com/blog/g/3d30a80e-5c0d-4c7f-a991-5eddc8a60d6b] and Kimberley Strassel [http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB119760224589328823.html] , and has been disputed in the mainstream media. [cite news
last = Dine
first = Philip
title = Urban legend of "North American Union" feeds on fears
publisher = The Seattle Times
date = 2007-05-19
url = http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003713518_rumor19.html
accessdate = 2007-07-16] [cite news
last = Kovach
first = Gretel
title = Highway to Hell?
publisher = Newsweek
date = 2007-12-10
url = http://www.newsweek.com/id/73372
accessdate = 2007-12-07] [cite news
last = Bennett
first = Drake
title = The amero conspiracy
newspaper = International Herald Tribune
date = 2007-11-25
url = http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/11/25/america/25Amero.php
accessdate = 2007-12-20]

Libel lawsuit

On September 20, 2000, WND published an article [cite web | url = http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?pageId=4260 | title = Officials say Gore killed drug probe | author = Thompson II, Charles C., and Hays, Tony | work = WorldNetDaily | accessmonthday = February 18 | accessyear = 2008] claiming that Clark Jones, a Savannah, Tennessee, car dealer and fund-raiser for then-Vice President Al Gore, had interfered with a criminal investigation, had been a "subject" of a criminal investigation, was listed on law enforcement computers as a "dope dealer," and implied that he had ties to others involved in alleged criminal activity. In 2001, Jones filed a lawsuit [cite web | url = http://conwebwatch.tripod.com/graphics/wndlawsuitdocs/jonessuit.pdf | title = Second Amended Complaint | accessmonthday = February 18 | accessyear = 2008|format=PDF] against WND; the reporters, Charles C. Thompson II and Tony Hays; the Center for Public Integrity, which had underwritten Thompson and Hays' reporting on the article and related ones [cite web | url = http://conwebwatch.tripod.com/stories/2007/wndlawsuit.html | title = WorldNetDaily on Trial | author = Krepel, Terry | work = ConWebWatch | accessmonthday = February 18 | accessyear = 2008] ; and various Tennessee publications and broadcasters who he accused of repeating the claim, claiming libel and defamation. The lawsuit had been scheduled to go to trial in March 2008 [cite web | url = http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=59844 | title = Future of reporting scheduled for trial | author = Unruh, Bob | work = WorldNetDaily | accessmonthday = February 18 | accessyear = 2008] , but on February 13, 2008, WND announced that a confidential out-of-court settlement had been reached with Jones.cite web | url = http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=56353 | title = WND settles $165 million libel case | work = WorldNetDaily | accessmonthday = February 18 | accessyear = 2008] A settlement statement jointly drafted by all parties in the lawsuit states in part:

Quotation|Discovery has revealed to WorldNetDaily.com that no witness verifies the truth of what the witnesses are reported by authors to have stated. Additionally, no document has been discovered that provides any verification that the statements written were true.

Factual discovery in the litigation and response from Freedom of Information Act requests to law enforcement agencies confirm Clark Jones' assertion that his name has never been on law enforcement computers, that he has not been the subject of any criminal investigation nor has he interfered with any investigation as stated in the articles. Discovery has also revealed that the sources named in the publications have stated under oath that statements attributed to them in the articles were either not made by them, were misquoted by the authors, were misconstrued, or the statements were taken out of context.

Columnists

*Michael Ackley
*Gary Aldrich
*Jani Allan
*Tom Ambrose
*Lawrence Auster
*Chuck Baldwin
*Samuel Blumenfeld
*Alan Bock
*Pat Boone
*Neal Boortz
*Shmuley Boteach
*Linda Bowles
*David Broder
*Harry Browne
*Pat Buchanan
*William F. Buckley, Jr.
*Doug Casey
*Jack Cashill
*Jane Chastain
*Mona Charen
*Linda Chavez
*Robert Cihak
*Jerome Corsicite news | url=http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/08/20/failed_venture_follows_anti_obama_author/?page=1 | title=Failed venture follows anti-Obama author |publisher=Boston Globe | date= August 21, 2008 | first= | last= | accessdate = 2008-11-14]
*Matt Sanchez
*Ann Coulter
*Barbara Curtis
*Vox Day
*John N. Doggett
*Brian Doherty
*David Dolan
*Jon Dougherty
*Larry Elder
*Jerry Falwell
*Elizabeth Farah
*Joseph Farah
*Don Feder
*Samuel Francis
*James Freeman
*Lenora B. Fulani
*John Fund
*Frank Gaffney
*Leah Garchik
*James Glassman
*Michael Glueck
*Ellen Goodman
*Cynthia Grenier
*Richard Grenier
*Rebecca Hagelin
*David Hackworth
*Sean Hannity
*Nat Hentoff
*Paul Jennings Hill
*Bob Howard
*Rusty Humphries
*Molly Ivins
*Thomas Jipping
*Bob Just
*Mickey Kaus
*Michael Kelly
*D. James Kennedy
*Alan Keyes
*Devvy Kidd
*Larry King
*Les Kinsolving
*Morton Kondracke
*Joe Kovacs
*Charles Krauthammer
*David Kupelian
*Howard Kurtz
*Greg Laurie
*John Leo
*David Limbaugh
*Hal Lindsey
*Anthony LoBaido
*Ellen Makkai
*Michelle Malkin
*Jackie Mason
*Mychal Massie
*Chris Matthews
*Ron Maxwell
*Craige McMillan
*Wendy McElroy
*Mary McGrory
*Michael Medved
*Ilana Mercer
*Joel Miller
*Roy Moore
*Melanie Morgan
*Chuck Norris
*Maralyn Lois Polak
*Doug Powers
*Dennis Prager
*Burt Prelutsky
*Bill Press
*Dave Ramsey
*Ellen Ratner
*Lew Rockwell
*Erik Rush
*Jim Rutz
*Chelsea Schilling
*Phyllis Schlafly
*Laura Schlessinger
*Benjamin Shapiro
*Barbara Simpson
*Craig Smith
*Paul Sperry
*Jill Stanek
*Bill Steigerwald
*Jacob Sullum
*Vin Suprynowicz
*Cassandra Walker
*Jude Wanniski
*Chelsea Schilling
*Ellis Washington
*Lionel Waxman
*Kyle Williams
*Walter E. Williams
*Hans Zeiger

ee also

* Arkansas Project The aim to discredit Bill Clinton, which was connected to Joseph Farah.

References

External links

* [http://www.worldnetdaily.com/ Official site]