WND

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{{silver}}[[File:Gibbstwo.jpg|thumb|right|250px|White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs laughs at a "serious" question from a WorldNetDaily reporter asking about [[Obama]]'s birth certificate.]]{{media}}
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'''WND''' (formerly '''WorldNetDaily''' or, as it was affectionately known to its fans, '''WingNutDaily''' or '''WhirledNutDaily''') is an [[extremism|extremist]] [[conservative]] [[webshite|website]] founded by [[Joseph Farah]] in 1997. It espouses a [[fundamentalist]] [[Christian]], [[creationist]] view of the world. Its [[political]] leanings are [[right-wing]], pro-"[[Christian right]]," and supposedly pro-[[United States]], with strongly [[libertarian]] economic views. Its coverage provides [[Fair and Balanced|multiple sides of the issues]]: the conservative viewpoint and the ultra-conservative viewpoint. It is far to the right of [[Fox News]].
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{{Infobox newspaper
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| name                = WorldNetDaily
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| logo                = [[Image:Wndlogo freepress.jpg]]
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| image                =
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| caption              =
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| headquarters        = Washington, D.C.
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| type                = Online news site
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| format              = Website
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| political            = Neoconservative, libertarian
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| owners              = WorldNetDaily.com, Inc.
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| foundation          = 1997
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| chiefeditor          = [[Joseph Farah]]
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| maneditor            = David Kupelian
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| newseditor          = Joe Kovacs
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| website              = [http://www.wnd.com/ wnd.com]
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}}
  
While they present themselves as news, WND is essentially a [[tabloid]] for radical right-wingers. Their publishing standards are rock-bottom, and they have run stories from extremely questionable sources on many, ''many'' occasions.<ref>[http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/cfl.asp In which WND gets nailed by Snopes.]</ref><ref>http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/thunderer/article659904.ece</ref> They are best known for distributing [[Ann Coulter]]'s insipid columns, as well as articles written by noted political analysts [[Chuck Norris]] and [[Pat Boone]]. They recently added disgraced baseball bigot John Rocker as well, indicating they've decided to drop the [[dog whistle]]s and go with overt [[racism]].
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'''''WorldNetDaily''''' ('''''WND''''') is an American web site that publishes news and associated content from the perspective of [[Conservatism in the United States|U.S. conservatives]] and the political right.<ref name="NY Times 5May2009">{{cite news |title=Britain Identifies 16 Barred From Entering U.K.  |first=John F. |last=Burns |url=http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/06/world/europe/06britain.html?scp=3&sq=WorldNetDaily&st=nyt |newspaper=The New York Times |publisher= Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Jr. |location=New York City, NY |date=May 5, 2009  |accessdate=Mar 26, 2010 |quote=according to WorldNetDaily.com, a conservative Web site.}}</ref> It was founded in May 1997 by [[Joseph Farah]] with the stated intent of "exposing wrongdoing, corruption and abuse of power"<ref name="WNDAbout">{{cite web |url=http://www.worldnetdaily.com/About%20WND |title=About Us |author=World Net Daily |publisher=Joseph Farah |accessdate=May 25, 2011}}</ref> and is headquartered in [[Washington, D.C.]]<ref name="ContactWND">"[http://www.wnd.com/Contact%20WND Contact WND]." WorldNetDaily. Retrieved on August 14, 2009.</ref>
  
The scary thing is that this bilge is actually slightly influential, with made-up [[bullshit]] from WND making its way out the mouths of wingnut congressmen and cable TV pundits far too often.<ref>http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/04/11/joseph_farah_wnd_misinformation/index.html</ref>
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==History==
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In 1997 Joseph Farah created the news website ''WorldNetDaily''<ref name="WNDAbout" /> as a division of the [[Western Journalism Center]]. It was subsequently spun off in 1999 as a for-profit organization<ref name=WND100199>{{cite news |title=World's 'No. 1 website' goes for-profit |url = http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=17207 |newspaper= World Net Daily |publisher= Joseph Farah |location= McClean, VA |date= October 1, 1999 | accessdate =May 25, 2011 | quote= Beginning today, WorldNetDaily.com, voted the most popular website on the Internet the last 23 weeks, is officially a for-profit corporation...}}</ref> with the backing of $4.5 million from investors, Farah owning  a majority of the stock.<ref>{{cite web |url = http://conwebwatch.tripod.com/stories/2002/wndown.html |title = The 'O' Word |accessdate = February 2, 2008 |last = Krepel |first = Terry | date = February 19, 2002 |work = ConWebWatch |quote = So, who owns WorldNetDaily? Joseph Farah is a little reluctant to answer.}}</ref> The site describes itself as "an independent news company dedicated to uncompromising journalism".<ref name = "WNDAbout" /> In 1999, WorldNetDaily.com, Inc. was incorporated in [[Delaware]]<ref name="WND100199" /> with offices in [[Cave Junction, Oregon|Cave Junction]], [[Oregon]].<ref>{{cite journal| url = http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/aug2001/nf20010828_333.htm | title= On the Web, Small and Focused Pays Off| journal= BusinessWeek | edition = online | accessdate=November 4, 2006}}</ref> According to its website, World Net Daily has a staff of approximately 25 people.<ref name = "WNDAbout" /> In 2007 it was headquartered in [[Medford, Oregon| Medford]], Oregon.<ref>{{cite web | url= http://www.worldnetdaily.com/contactwnd.asp | title =Contact WND | work =World Net Daily |month=December |year=2007 |publisher= Joseph Farah |archiveurl = http://web.archive.org/web/20071225214520/http://www.worldnetdaily.com/contactwnd.asp |archivedate=December 25, 2007 |accessdate=May 27, 2011 |quote= WorldNetDaily.com, Inc., Medford, OR}}</ref>
  
==Corporate structure==
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Seeking credentials to cover the [[U.S. Congress]] in 2002, ''WND'' was opposed by the [[Press gallery|Standing Committee of Correspondents]]. This panel of journalists was charged by Congress with administering press credentials. Until 1996, Internet-only publications had been deemed unacceptable.<ref>{{Citation | first = Michael T | last = Heaney | url = http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mheaney/Press_Galleries.pdf | title = Blogging Congress: Technological Change and the Politics of the Congressional Press Galleries | journal = PS: Political Science & Politics | year = 2008 | volume = 41 | issue = 2 | format = [[PDF]]}}.</ref> ''WND'' turned to the [[United States Senate Committee on Rules and Administration]] for help, arguing that the panel's decision had violated the site's constitutional rights to due process, equal protection, and freedom of the press". Faced "with legal threats and negative publicity, the panel reversed itself, voting 3–2 to award WorldNetDaily its credentials".<ref>{{Citation | first = Jesse | last = Walker | author-link = Jesse Walker | url = http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1568/is_6_34/ai_93090045/ | title = Galley gatekeepers: the politics of press credentials – Citings | newspaper = Reason | month = November | year = 2002}}.</ref> Shortly after, the rules were formally adjusted to clarify the participation of online publications.<ref>{{Citation | first = Mark | last = Thompson | url = http://www.ojr.org/ojr/workplace/1075604186.php | title = New Media Often Takes Back Seat to Old Media on Press Credentials | newspaper = Online Journalism Review | date = April 22, 2004}}.</ref>
Although its website lists [[Washington, D.C.]] as the location of its corporate and marketing headquarters and Medford, [[Oregon]], as the location of its accounting office, it is actually headquartered in Medford. For decades Medford has been a Mecca for survivalists, conspiracy theorists, and others of the paranoid-unhinged persuasion; it is also candidate to become the capital of the [[State of Jefferson]], should that state ever become a [[reality]]. The other offices listed are an "operations" office in Long Beach, [[California]], and a "customer service" office in the Kansas City suburb of Blue Springs, [[Missouri]]. In 1999, it was incorporated in the [[tax haven]] state of [[Delaware]].
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==Website contents==
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==Description==
===Advertising===
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''WND'' provides news, editorials, commentaries, letters to the editor, forums, and conducts a daily poll. It claims its editorial content has a diverse range of viewpoints,<ref name="salon">{{cite web|url=http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/04/11/joseph_farah_wnd_misinformation|title=Right-wing publisher: We run "some misinformation"|publisher=Salon.com|date = April 13, 2011}}</ref> though predominantly from a [[Right-wing politics|right wing]] or [[Conservativism in the United States|conservative perspective]].<ref name="NY Times 5May2009"/><ref name='Nashville Times WND'>{{cite news |first=Drew |last=Ruble |title=Conservative pub criticizes Fisk's appointment of O'Leary |date=August 20, 2004 | publisher=Nashville Times |url=http://www.nashvillepost.com/news/2004/8/20/conservative_pub_criticizes_fisks_appointment_of_oleary |accessdate =March 19, 2009 }}</ref><ref name='Dublin Independent WND'>{{cite news |first=Andrew |last=Gumbel |title=Right-wing Christians launch Christmas crusade |date=December 8, 2005 |publisher=Dublin Independent | url =http://www.independent.ie/world-news/americas/rightwing-christians-launch-christmas-crusade-224774.html | accessdate =March 19, 2009 }}</ref> Besides providing articles authored by its own staff, the site links to news from other publications. Notable staff includes Jerusalem Bureau Chief [[Aaron Klein]], White House Correspondent [[Lester Kinsolving]], and Staff Writer [[Jerome Corsi]]. Its commentary pages feature editorials from the site's founder, [[Joseph Farah]] and other [[Social conservatism|social conservative]] authors such as [[Pat Buchanan]], [[Ellis Washington]], [[Ann Coulter]], [[David Limbaugh]], [[Bill O'Reilly (commentator)|Bill O'Reilly]], and [[Chuck Norris]]. It also has featured weekly columns by [[Libertarianism|libertarians]] [[Walter E. Williams|Walter Williams]], [[Vox Day]], [[Ilana Mercer]], as well as liberals such as [[Maralyn Lois Polak]], [[Bill Press]], and [[pro-life]] moderate [[Nat Hentoff]].<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.worldnetdaily.com/resources/columnists.asp | work = WorldNetDaily | title = WorldNetDaily: Columnists | accessdate =December 16, 2006}}</ref>
While the website obviously has to pay its costs somehow, advertising is done in a particularly tacky way. Advertisements for products sold through the website store are [[RationalWiki:Site_support|inserted into news articles as a few lines of hyper-linked text]] &mdash; in the same style for linking to previous articles &mdash; giving no indication that it is advertising. Ads are placed on the front page using the same fonts and formatting as article headlines, making it difficult to differentiate between advertising and news content. One of the best examples of this was in November 2011 when under the banner of "WND Exclusive" was an article titled "Obama hasn’t destroyed ‘that time of year,’ at least not yet ..."; clicking on this apparent shocking headline led you to an article plugging WND Superstore's Christmas selection. <ref>[http://freethoughtblogs.com/dispatches/2011/11/17/the-worldnutdaily-pimps-christmas-junk/ The Worldnutdaily Pimps Christmas Junk] - Freethoughtblogs, Ed Brayton, November 17, 2011.</ref>
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Banner advertising on the site falls into two broad categories: passive weight-loss techniques and [[survivalism]]-related products. Basically, advertisers think WND's readers are fat slobs who want to lose weight without effort or paranoid nut jobs who think America is going into a second dark age and the only way to survive is to preserve your own food and generate your own power. The power generation issue is especially ironic, given that WND criticizes Google for solar-powering their premises (except for the server cluster), but flogs kits to build your own system for $100.
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WND also offers products for sale, typically these are products sold by its related book service, WND Book Service, by its publishing house, [[#WND Books|WND Books]], or by its retail operation, ShopNetDaily. The site also runs a printed magazine, [[Whistleblower (magazine)|Whistleblower]], and other companies such as the ''G2 Bulletin'', a subscription-only website described as an "intelligence resource" for "insights into geo-political and geo-strategic developments".
 
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===Columnists===
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Farah writes daily on his three favorite topics: how [[Liberal media|the media is liberal]], how the media is ignoring his latest venture because they are liberal, and defending his latest venture from the media's attacks, because they are liberal. Mostly he talks about how he has been in the media thirty years and that when he started out the media "just reported the truth" and similar fantasies.
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However, the election of Barack Obama to the office of the President of the United States in 2008 really brought Farah and his cronies over the edge. During the 2008 election season, ''Worldnet Daily'' became one of the most vocal <s>promoters of the birther conspiracy theory</s> crusaders to expose the ''truth'' that [[Barack Obama]] was supposedly born in Kenya instead of Hawaii, and that the actual birth certificate registered in Hawaii is a forgery. In spite of vast amounts of evidence that these theories are nothing but hot air and that the entire world is laughing at them, they continue to push this twaddle in the face of the public as the truth, in the hope that if they repeat the lie often enough, someone will believe it and it will become the truth. While they don't come right out and admit that Barack Obama is the Anti-Christ, the writers at ''WND'' have done everything they can to convince themselves (and tomorrow the world…ha ha ha!) that Obama is EVIL.
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Without exception, every visit to ''WND'' will treat you to two running themes: Obama is evil, and the Satanic cult of Islam is launching a holy war against the entire world. Needless to say, anything in the media that hints at the idea of Obama as a Muslim will show up in SCREAMING HEADLINES here.
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{{QuoteBox2|align=right|width=230px|text=I really should send Joseph Farah a gift for putting together a publication that goes above and beyond the call of duty to provide me with maximum fodder for this blog.|source=[[Ed Brayton]]<ref>[http://scienceblogs.com/dispatches/2008/07/thank_you_joseph_farah_thank_y.php ''Thank You, Joseph Farah. Thank you.''] -  Dispatches from the Culture Wars, July 17, 2008.</ref>}}
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The list of weekly columnists read like a Who's Who of the Religious Right:
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*[[Theodore Beale]]
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*[[Pat Buchanan]]
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*[[Pat Boone]]
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*[[Herman Cain]]
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*[[Jerome Corsi]]
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*[[Ann Coulter]]
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*Larry Elder
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*[[Victoria Jackson]]
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*[[Alan Keyes]]
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*David Limbaugh ([[Rush Limbaugh]]'s younger brother)
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*[[Chuck Norris]]
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*Jesse Lee Peterson, the real-life version of [[wp:Uncle Ruckus|Uncle Ruckus]]
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*[[Dennis Prager]]
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*Burt Prelutsky
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*[[Janet Porter]]
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*[[Rick Santorum]]
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*[[Phyllis Schlafly]]
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*Jill Stanek, fringe pro-life activist
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*[[John Stossel]] (who's, you know, not religious right, but you get the picture)
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*[[Tom Tancredo]]
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===Email to the Editor===
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This section <ref>[http://www.wnd.com/category/opinion/emails-to-the-editor/ WND:Emails to the editor]</ref> is also called "Letters to the Editor", but this is an online newspaper. It's basically a chance for the readers to tell Farah how right he is. On the rare occasions they do post letters disagreeing with their editorial stance, it is usually threatening and offensive, reflecting poorly on the letter writer. They post five a day, and it is not hard to believe they receive a lot more than that, so they are obviously choosing only the ones they want.
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Unfortunately, there is no archive or permanent links to the emails so we can't show you any highlights. However, to give you an idea on the well-informed views you are missing out on, one day we had: a long, ranty, [[birther]] letter; a comparison of the health care reforms to ''Soylent Green''; a letter saying all socialists are [[Nazi]]s; a letter complaining that Robert Gibbs starts sentences with "The American people want ..." despite the fact Tony Snow also used that phrase;<ref>http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2007/07/20070717-9.html</ref> and a person fawning over how great their columnist Burt Prelutsky is.
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===Forums===
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The best batshit craziness is to be found on the "forums"<ref>http://forums.wnd.com/</ref>. They are only called "forums" because that is the name WND has given them &mdash; they are actually a comments thread on a blog, without a blog piece to comment on. These are started by the site admins rarely and there is no ability to link to posts. Annoyingly, the newest post goes first, and to follow any conversation you have to work backwards trying to connect the blue quote text to the original post. Forum moderators are easy to spot as they are the only ones with a signature and it is about 15 lines long trying to explain how their convoluted forum system works. There are actually only 15 threads on the forums currently available for commenting, not counting the polls &mdash; which are a lot more fun.
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===Polls===
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WND runs polls daily. The polls typically never have fewer than eight options, running the full gamut of the political spectrum from far-left to far-right, as well a few wingnut options that lie nowhere in the spectrum (or reality). Occasionally the truth sneaks in with options such as: "No, this is all just sour grapes from right-wingers", but they receive few votes.
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Polls are mildly restrictive, since you have to register before you can participate.  However, you may view the embarrassing results without registering.
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====Previous poll results====
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*[http://forums.wnd.com/index.php?pageId=347&pollShowResults=1 Is Obama's eligibility issue a concern to you?] - 17 options. Top result, 36%: ''Yes, he's already proven he's not qualified. Now let's find out if he's eligible.'' (The top 8 results were variations on yes, totalling 99% of the votes).
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*[http://forums.wnd.com/index.php?pageId=477&pollShowResults=1 Why do you think the national media avoided the July 4th tea parties?] - 15 options. Top result, 70%: ''They're driven by ideology and are completely in the tank for Obama and the Congress.''
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*[http://forums.wnd.com/index.php?pageId=471&pollShowResults=1 Do you believe mankind evolved from lower species?]<ref>Actually even a person who considers evolution as the best explanation for the biodiversity present on Earth would answer no to this question: in evolutionary biology there is no such idea as "higher" and "lower" species.</ref> - 13 options. Top result, 63%: ''No, I believe the Bible account of creation.''
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*[http://forums.wnd.com/index.php?pageId=485&pollShowResults=1 Where exactly do you think President Obama was really born?] - 10 options. Top result, 72%: ''Kenya''.
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*[http://forums.wnd.com/index.php?pageId=645&pollShowResults=1 What would you like to give Obama for Christmas?] - 25 options. Top result, 25%: ''A court ruling booting his ineligible self from office''.
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*[http://forums.wnd.com/index.php?pageId=750&pollShowResults=1 Who's your pick for 2012 GOP presidential nominee if you could vote today?] - 27 options. Top result, 21%: ''[[Ron Paul]]''. Second, 19%: ''[[Sarah Palin]]''.
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*[http://forums.wnd.com/index.php?pageId=753&pollShowResults=1 What do you make of the recent spree of earthquakes?] - 10 options. Top result, 35%: ''It's the beginning of the end-time birth pangs, as the Bible puts it''.
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*[http://forums.wnd.com/index.php?pageId=754&pollShowResults=1 Sound off on Michelle Obama's comment that Barack's 'home country' is Kenya.] - 15 options. Top result, 62%: ''She spilled the beans. Barack was really born in Kenya, his home country''.
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*[http://forums.wnd.com/index.php?pageId=794&pollShowResults=1 Sound off on evangelical leaders pushing amnesty for illegal aliens already in U.S] - 20 options. Top result, 22%: ''Unless their churches and ministries - rather than the taxpayers - are on the hook for the added costs of their pious platitudes, they're advocating robbing Peter to pay Pablo''.
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===Videos===
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WND also hosts several video series.
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====''For The Record''====
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By amateur filmmaker Jason "Molotov" Mitchell.<ref>http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=120417</ref> Some of the videos surpass WND's usual standards of offensiveness, such as when Mitchell [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmWdExg4kic actually argues in favor] of the [[wp:Uganda_Anti-Homosexuality_Bill|Ugandan law making homosexuality a capital crime]], citing a commandment in the book of [[Leviticus]] as his reason. (Molotov admits to having a Christian tattoo, apparently ignoring Leviticus 19:28<ref>[[RationalWiki:Annotated Bible/Leviticus#Leviticus_19:28]]</ref>, wherein the Lord explicitly forbids tattoos under penalty of execution.)
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====''News! News!''====
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An almost painfully unfunny weekly news segment produced by "Molotov" Mitchell, hosted by "D.J. Doulce". Every episode ends with the line "That is all the time we have for this weeks ''News! News!'', next week we may all be dead". Only if there is a merciful God.
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====''The Ultimate Jew''====
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Hosted by Jackie Mason (no shit, I thought he was dead too). Not funny, just kind of preachy.
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====''Living Waters''====
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[[Ray Comfort]] and his buddy [[Kirk Cameron]] ambush young college students on the street and ask them deeply philosophical questions when they are enjoying a day out in the sun. When they fail to comprehensively answer their, at times ridiculous, questions it shows how atheism and evolution are wrong.
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====''Just the Facts''====
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Probably the driest of the five series hosted by Richard Rives, his videos usually focus on Christianity and how the founding fathers were Christians. He seems to be anti-established churches and very much teach yourself.
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====''Red Elephant's Cafe''====
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A "drama" series about a small town in US called Liberty. The villain of the piece is the government, the characters talk in [[Tea Party]] talking points and everything will be better if, um ... God.
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===WND Superstore!===
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Everyone knows how to make money on the web, right? You give away stuff free and sell T-shirts on the back of it. They have bibles! They have other books! They have a Reagan Store! They have their WorldNetWeekly magazine! (All material you could have read free on the site every day!) They have CDs and DVDs! They have a Tea Party store! They have a Birth Certificate store! And, of course, they have T-shirts.
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==Claims of objectivity==
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Managing Editor David Kupelian claims that WND "''serves as your watchdog on government 365 days a year. We guard your priceless freedoms by aggressively exposing corruption and evil everywhere, and by championing good.''"<ref>http://www.wnd.com/index.php?pageId=23640/</ref>
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==Obama birth certificate "controversy"==
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:''See the main article: [[Obama citizenship denial]]''
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The Obama birth certificate controversy is a long running pet gripe of Joseph Farah and receives excessive coverage on WND.<ref>[http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=103137 Farah responding to claims he is obsessed about this, only giving himself another excuses to go over it again].</ref> On most days, the vast majority, if not all, of its headlines will be about the so-called "controversy". The headlines that are ''not'' about the birth certificate or eligibility are their "special offers" or other advertisements.  The website will instantly host any article which contains any opinion that could possibly point to Obama being ineligible to be President of the United States. Despite there being a very high quality picture of his birth certificate on the Internet,<ref>[http://www.factcheck.org/UploadedFiles/birth_certificate_5.jpg That could belong to anyone named Barack Hussein Obama II born to a Caucasian women and African man on the 4th of August 1961 in Honolulu]</ref> they still believe he is ineligible because:
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#He was born in Kenya, his Grandma said so.<ref>This is what we were told she said based on a translation. Even if the translation was true, the question she was reportedly asked was "Which city in Kenya was Barack born"? This is [[begging the question]]. Also, her ''son's'' name was Barack Obama, so once asked about the Kenyan-born Barack Obama she may have assumed they were talking about her son, not grandson.</ref>
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#He was born in an unnamed hospital in Hawaii, which does not claim credit.<ref>[http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=102900 A typical WND article on this topic]. This of course ignores that he was born at Kapi'olani Medical Center for Women & Children, which Obama thanks in a [http://www.kapiolanigift.org/centennial.aspx?id=1728 congratulatory message to them]. There was some confusion with people claiming he was born at Queen's Medical Center, but Kapi'olani Medical Center for Women & Children being named after Queen Kapi'olani may be the source of this confusion. Two days after this was posted here, WorldNetDaily ran an [http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=103294 article] on the letter, as per usual, WND used the fact that it is against federal law to release private information to insinuate Obama is hiding his place of birth. Eventually the issue of this letter descended into a farce. When the letter was removed from the website [http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=103633 WND accused them of participating in a cover up] and of course [http://forums.wnd.com/index.php?pageId=482&pollShowResults=1 they ran a poll on it]. They were eventually satisfied of the existence of this [http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=104146 when they got to see it], although they insisted on saying it was "allegedly" written by Obama.</ref>
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#They only showed his birth certificate to a "select few media outlets", not to us, so it could still be fake.<ref>This is irrelevant, [http://www.factcheck.org/about/ the website chosen was due to its neutrality and professionalism].</ref>
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#Even if it is real, that certificate is a "Certificate of Live Birth" not a "Birth Certificate", so it proves nothing.<ref>[[wp:Birth_certificate#Birth_certificates_in_the_United_States|Birth Certificates and Certificate of Live Birth are the same thing]]. A longer version of the one on the net is on record, but even his short one says he was born in Hawaii.</ref>
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#Even if he has a "long-form" birth certificate, he lived in Indonesia for some years and gave up his American citizenship.<ref>This topic does not receive much coverage on WND. If this did apply (which it doesn't), it would be difficult to rebut as we would have prove a negative and find evidence that Obama did not become an Indonesian citizen. The absence of such a record will not be satisfying to WND as they don't believe in a certificate that does exist, never mind the one that doesn't exist.</ref>
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#Even if he lived in Indonesia without giving up his US citizenship, his father was Kenyan and so does not meet <s>our</s> the Constitution's definition of "natural born citizen", because both parents have to be US citizens.<ref>In point of fact the nationality of one, or for that matter both, of Obama's parents is simply irrelevant. Anybody who is born on US soil is automatically a US citizen.<sup>[[http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/citizen.asp See Snopes on Obama's birth]]</sup>. The only mention of what constitutes a citizen in the constitution is in the 14th amendment: "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside."  Given that Obama's mother was a natural-born US citizen, and he was born in the US, this would cover most, if not all, legal definitions of "natural born" with various legislatures in the US. This is actually a political controversy among anti-immigration activists, some of whom feel that the 14th Amendment should be partially repealed so as to stop the scourge of "[[Anchor baby|anchor babies]]"; you'd think a far-right webshite would know about this.</ref>
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Just to show their determination to <s>get that black Democrat out of the White House</s> uphold the Constitution, they claim to have raised more than $65,000 to erect billboards around the country with the message "Where's the Birth Certificate?" Interestingly, WND seems to be completely silent<ref>[http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.search&keywords=+John+McCain+eligibility&authorId=&search_WND.x=0&search_WND.y=0 I searched for ''John McCain's'' eligibility, not Obama's, stupid liberal search engine...]</ref> on the eligibility of [[John McCain]], who caused a slight stir due to being born in the Panama Canal Zone.<ref>In fact Obama co-sponsored a bill to ensure that the legal definition of [http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23406107/ natural born citizen would cover McCain]. "Those who serve and sacrifice for their country, like John McCain and his father, deserve every honor and privilege that our nation can possibly provide, and that includes the ability to run for the highest office in the land" - Obama</ref>
+
 
+
In an attempt to bring further cash in, Farah whipped together a short, shoddy hatchet job, which you can buy for only $17.99.<ref>[http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=104814 Main page announcement of documentary].</ref><ref>[http://shop.wnd.com/store/item.asp?ITEM_ID=3125 The shop with the already falling price].</ref>
+
 
+
Farah's newest wrinkle on this old theme consists of his expressing doubts as to who Obama's ''mother'' really is. Appropriately, [[Ed Brayton]] quipped that the next step would be for Farah to declare his belief that Obama is actually a reptilian ([[David Icke]], take note!);  Farah is sure to come up with something just as silly if a lizard-man vibe strikes him as being inappropriate for his birther conspiracy theory of the week.<ref>[http://freethoughtblogs.com/dispatches/2012/08/08/farah-takes-birtherism-to-whole-new-level/ Farah Takes Birtherism to Whole New Level,] ''Dispatches from the Culture Wars''</ref>
+
 
+
In addition, Jerome Corsi has also used WorldNetDaily to spread rumors that Obama is secretly gay and used to frequent Chicago gay bars.<ref>[http://www.wnd.com/2012/09/claim-obama-hid-gay-life-to-become-president/ Claim: Obama hid 'gay life' to become president], World Net Daily</ref><ref>[http://www.edgeboston.com/news/politics/news/137004/world_net_daily_dredges_up_ancient_%E2%80%99obama_gay%E2%80%99_rumors_ World Net Daily Dredges Up Ancient ’Obama Gay’ Rumors]</ref><ref>[http://www.buzzfeed.com/chrisgeidner/world-net-dailys-corsi-asks-was-obama-married-t World Net Daily's Corsi Asks: "Was Obama Married To A Man?"], BuzzFeed</ref>
+
 
+
===Difficulties with the truth===
+
 
+
WND has also had some difficulties telling the truth over the birth certificate controversy. On the 2nd of August 2009 when [[Orly Taitz]] presented them a photograph of a birth certificate that was reportedly Obama's Kenyan birth certificate, they clearly stated in their article:
+
{{cquote|WND was able to obtain other birth certificates from Kenya for purposes of comparison, and the form of the documents appear to be identical.<ref>[http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=105764 WND] - Is this really smoking gun of Obama's Kenyan birth? (retrieved 18th of August 2009)</ref><ref>[[:File:Is this really smoking gun of Obama's Kenyan birth- 1250600782779.png|Picture in case anything happens to it]].</ref>}}
+
However the birth certificate turned out to be a fake based on an [[Australia]]n birth certificate.<ref>http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/08/04/australia_certificate/</ref> They were caught doing what is commonly called lying,<ref>[http://conwebwatch.tripod.com/stories/2009/wndnotj.html ConWebWatch] - WorldNetDaily Does Not Do Journalism (retrieved 18th of August 2009)</ref> and were not helped by the fact they defended glaring errors in the document, such as Kenya not being a republic at the time, which were pointed out before the hoax was exposed.<ref>http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=106016</ref>
+
 
+
In August of 2010, they published an article claiming that then Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan had helped to cover up Obama's birth certificate. In fact, they had only found nine Supreme Court cases mentioning Obama and Kagan (considering she was US Solicitor General at the time, that was perfectly normal), none of which has anything to do with the birth certificate controversy, most of which were filed well before Obama became President and merely "carried over", and only one of which was even related to the election.<ref>[http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/birthers/kagan.asp Snopes.com article debunking the WND story]</ref> So, WND took the action of any brave journalistic organization and deleted the story without explanation.<ref>[http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=187797 Link to where the WND story was before they deleted it.]</ref> The link remained broken for days. WND eventually reactivated the links, replacing it with a story that has only a small connection to the original and an acknowledgement of their initial error.
+
 
+
==And that's not all==
+
 
+
In addition to claiming that Obama is actually a Kenyan who gay married a Muslim, WorldNetDaily has plenty of other sanity-deprived ideas.
+
 
+
* The attack by Anders Behring Breivik was invented by the Norwegian Labour party in order to gain sympathy. "This is likely a fabrication of the Labour Party, who needs to hold onto power to enforce their multi-culturalist, Muslim-favoring, anti-nationalist views", according to Michael Savage.<ref>[http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/savage-norway-terrorist-attacks-left-wing-conspiracy Savage: Norway Terrorist Attacks A Left-Wing Conspiracy], RightWingWatch. [http://www.wnd.com/2011/07/325069/ Original on WND] has been blanked, with just the title left.</ref>
+
* [[Soy|Soybeans]] and soy milk will make your penis shrink and turn you gay.<ref>[http://www.wnd.com/2006/12/39253/ Soy is making kids 'gay'], WorldNetDaily</ref>
+
* Obama is planning on building a Death Star.<ref>[http://www.wnd.com/2012/12/will-obama-build-death-star-next/ Will Obama build a Death Star next?], WorldNetDaily</ref>
+
* Whenever a headline on WND uses the word "Gay", it puts it in quotes.
+
 
+
==Playing the race card==
+
WND regularly runs stories that engage in base racism. Examples include:
+
 
+
*A scoop that "Corpulent women of color" in the [[Transportation Security Administration|TSA]] are molesting white people as revenge for the murder of [[Trayvon Martin]].<ref>[http://www.wnd.com/2012/05/the-tsas-trayvon-martin-revenge/ The TSA's Trayvon Martin revenge], WorldNetDaily</ref>
+
 
+
*A series of articles by journalist and alleged human being Colin Flaherty, who has "done more reporting than any other journalist on what appears to be a nationwide trend of skyrocketing black-on-white crime, violence and abuse." Some choice headlines include:
+
**"Take a stroll, wake up in hospital thanks to black mob" <ref>[http://www.wnd.com/2013/10/take-a-stroll-wake-up-in-hospital-thanks-to-black-mob/#BJcQvZBWSd0molTD.99}</ref>
+
**"PACK OF BLACK YOUTH TERRORIZE CITY" <ref>[http://www.wnd.com/2013/10/pack-of-black-youth-terrorize-city/]</ref>
+
**"Combat soldiers no match for black mob ...<ref>[http://www.wnd.com/2013/10/active-duty-vet-dead-after-racially-tinged-stabbing/#HVsjytdt79PUL5jQ.99]</ref>
+
**"BLACK-ON-WHITE BEATINGS LEAVE MORE DEAD" <ref>[http://www.wnd.com/2013/09/black-on-white-beatings-leave-3-more-dead/]</ref>
+
**"BLACK-MOB VIOLENCE DESTROYS U.S. LANDMARK" <ref>[http://www.wnd.com/2013/09/black-mob-violence-destroys-u-s-landmark/]</ref>
+
  
 
==WND Books==
 
==WND Books==
 +
''WorldNetDaily'' also publishes books under the imprint WND Books. The imprint was launched in 2002 through a partnership with [[Thomas Nelson (publisher)|Thomas Nelson Publishers]] (a  Christian publishing house) and released books by politicians and pundits like [[Katherine Harris]], [[Michael Savage (commentator)|Michael Savage]] and Farah himself. The partnership with Thomas Nelson Publishing ended shortly before the 2004 election;<ref>{{cite web | url = http://conwebwatch.tripod.com/stories/primer.html | title = Joseph Farah and ''WorldNetDaily'' | work = ConWebWatch | accessdate =November 14, 2006}}</ref> Thomas Nelson continued the division for a time under the Nelson Current imprint.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.writenews.com/2004/110504_thomas_nelson_politics.htm | work = The Write News | title = Thomas Nelson Launches Political Imprint | accessdate =November 18, 2006}}</ref> The ''WND'' Books imprint was subsequently published under a partnership with Cumberland House Publishing<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=40983 | work = WorldNetDaily | title = WND Books signs 'Unfit for Command' author | accessdate =November 21, 2006}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=52262 | work = WorldNetDaily | title = New publishing partner for WND Books | accessdate =November 23, 2006}}</ref> In January 2008, ''WND'' announced it had acquired World Ahead Media.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=59826 | work = WorldNetDaily | title = WND acquires World Ahead Media | accessdate =February 24, 2008}}</ref> In April 2011, Paul Harris, writing for the ''[[The Guardian]]'', called ''WND'' Books "a niche producer of rightwing [[conspiracy theories]], religious books and 'family values' tracts".<ref name="born-again">{{cite news|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/apr/21/barack-obama-us-elections-2012|title=The born-again birther debate|author=Paul Harris|work=The Guardian |location=London |date=April 21, 2011|accessdate=May 2, 2011}}</ref>
  
Under the ''WND Books'' imprint, WND publishes IMPORTANT INFORMATION on subjects relevant to its informative mission. Along with being an outlet for Farah's fine volumes, it also prints books by such intellectual greats as [[Ray Comfort]]<ref>The banana guy. Yes, him.</ref> and, of course, Chuck Norris. Mostly, though, the authors are WND staff writers producing hyper-partisan screeds against liberals and RINOs.
+
==Controversies==
 +
WND has published articles that have created controversies and criticism of the site by other media outlets.
  
You would have to be blind to miss the latest WND Books release. There are advertisements for it all over WND. There is usually an interview with the author, an article on how well it is selling on Amazon and an article by Farah complaining about how nobody wants to interview his author. Any story that can possibly be linked to the book is, and will dissolve into a plug for the book by the time you pass the annoying flashing GIF advertisement in the middle.
+
===9/11 attacks===
 +
On September 13, 2001, ''WND'' published a commentary by Anthony C. LoBaido regarding the [[September 11 attacks]] on New York City and Washington, D.C., that occurred 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".<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=24458  | title = Judgement Day in Mystery Babylon? | work = WorldNetDaily | accessdate =September 13, 2001 |archiveurl = http://web.archive.org/web/20010917014615/http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=24458 |archivedate = September 17, 2001}}</ref> Commentators [[Virginia Postrel]] of ''[[Reason (magazine)|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 (commentator)|Bill O'Reilly]] to sever their ties with ''WND'', prompting Farah to respond with a column of his own explaining that the article did not reflect the viewpoint of ''WND'', and that it, like most other commentary pieces, had not been reviewed before being published.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=24670 | title = The ''new'' political correctness police | work = WorldNetDaily | accessdate =September 26, 2001}}</ref>
  
Joseph Farah notes<ref>[http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=150021 Farah's ramblings - May 6 2010]</ref> the wide respect accorded to WND's political publications in the mainstream media:
+
===Barack Obama citizenship conspiracy theories===
 +
[[File:President Barack Obama's long form birth certificate.jpg|thumb|right|Barack Obama's long-form birth certificate]]
 +
''WorldNetDaily'' has repeatedly publicized [[Barack Obama citizenship conspiracy theories|conspiracy theories about Barack Obama's citizenship status]], claiming that Obama is not a natural-born American citizen and is thus not eligible to serve as president.<ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/28/business/media/28birth.html New York Times]</ref><ref>[http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42786288/ns/politics-decision_2012/t/publisher-upcoming-birther-book-makes-no-apologies/ MSNBC]</ref><ref>[http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2011-04-27-obama-birth-certificate_n.htm ''USA Today'']</ref> Such claims are considered unsubstantiated or debunked by more legitimate news sources. After the [[United States presidential election, 2008|2008 presidential campaign]], ''WND'' began an online petition to have Obama's Hawaiian birth certificate released to the public. The website also unsuccessfully urged [[United States Supreme Court|Supreme Court]] justices to hear several lawsuits aiming to release Obama's birth certificate.<ref>"[http://wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=86252 Please Check Eligibility, Thousands Ask Supremes]", ''WorldNetDaily'', January 16, 2009</ref>
  
{{cquote|Never, ever contact me again.|||Jeffrey Kluger,<br>senior writer, ''TIME'' magazine}}
+
===Libel lawsuit===
 +
On September 20, 2000, ''WND'' published an article<ref>{{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 | accessdate =February 18, 2008}}</ref> claiming that 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, the car dealer, Clark Jones, filed a [[lawsuit]]<ref>{{cite web | url = http://conwebwatch.tripod.com/graphics/wndlawsuitdocs/jonessuit.pdf | title = Second Amended Complaint | accessdate =February 18, 2008|format=PDF}}</ref> 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<ref>;{{cite web | url = http://conwebwatch.tripod.com/stories/2007/wndlawsuit.html | title = WorldNetDaily on Trial | author = Krepel, Terry | work = ConWebWatch | accessdate =February 18, 2008}}</ref> 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;<ref>{{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 | accessdate =February 18, 2008}}</ref> but, on February 13, 2008, ''WND'' announced that a confidential out-of-court settlement had been reached with Jones.<ref name="JonesLibelSettlement">{{cite web | url = http://www.wnd.com/2008/02/56353/ | title = ''WND'' settles $165 million libel case | work = WorldNetDaily | accessdate =February 18, 2008}}</ref> A settlement statement jointly drafted by all parties in the lawsuit stated that a [[Freedom of Information Act (United States)|Freedom of Information Act]] request showed that the allegations had been false, and that WND had misquoted sources.<ref name="JonesLibelSettlement" />
  
{{cquote|This is sensational rubbish that is of no interest to any legitimate publication.|||Rana Foroohar,<br>deputy editor, ''Newsweek''}}
+
===Ann Coulter speaking at Homocon===
 +
WND has also come out against LGBT participants in the Republican party and their associates. In 2010 when writer and pundit [[Ann Coulter]] accepted the invitation to attend and speak at [[GOProud]]'s Homocon 2010 event, Farah announced the withdrawal of Coulter's name from the list of speakers at the company's Taking America Back conference.<ref>{{cite web|url = http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=192405|title = WND drops Ann Coulter from Miami event over Homoconflict|publisher = WorldNetDaily|date = August 17, 2010}}</ref> Coulter responded by saying that speaking engagements do not imply endorsement of the hosting organization; however, after Farah published private emails between himself and Coulter, Coulter called him a “publicity whore” and a “swine” in an email to the Daily Caller blog.<ref>{{cite web|url = http://dailycaller.com/2010/08/18/ann-coulters-email-to-the-daily-caller-about-worldnetdaily/|title = Ann Coulter’s Email to ''The Daily Caller'' About ''WorldNetDaily''|author = Chris Moody|date = 4:39&nbsp;pm August 18, 2010}}</ref>
  
{{cquote|Ridiculous crap.|||John Oswald,<br>news editor, New York ''Daily News''}}
+
==References==
 +
{{Reflist|2}}
  
{{cquote|Absolute crap.|||Evelyn Leopold,<br>''Huffington Post'', formerly of Reuters}}
 
 
{{cquote|Remove me from your list.|||Nancy Gibbs,<br>editor-at-large, ''Newsweek''}}
 
 
{{cquote|Seriously, get a life.|||David Knowles,<br>political writer, AOL}}
 
 
==Mailing list==
 
WND maintains a mailing list of readers who have signed up to have their mailbox filled with the same sort of crap that the website is filled with.
 
 
Various organizations have rented the WND list including the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE)<ref>[http://www.thenextright.com/jon-henke/organizing-against-worldnetdaily Organizing Against WorldNetDaily], The Next Right</ref> and more significantly the Republican National Committee. The right-wing blogger Jon Henke, who considers birtherism and conspiracy theory "hideously embarassing" for sane conservatives contacted the latter and got a complete non-answer as to why the Repubicans would wish to rent the email list of a fringe group of loonies like WND.<ref>[http://www.thenextright.com/jon-henke/the-rnc-responds-but-will-not-distance-itself-from-worldnetdaily The RNC responds, but will not distance itself from WorldNetDaily], The Next Right</ref><ref>[http://www.thenextright.com/jon-henke/the-rnc-responds-but-will-not-distance-itself-from-worldnetdaily The RNC responds, but will not distance itself from WorldNetDaily], The Next Right</ref><ref>[http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/worldnetdaily-rnc-and-mainstreaming WorldNetDaily, the RNC, and the mainstreaming of extremist ideas], Crooks and Liars</ref> This may be because WND-reading nutjobs are now the Republican base...
 
 
==See also==
 
 
*[[Robert Beale]]: a former financial backer turned gibbering tax crank
 
*[[Brigitte Gabriel]]:  "author", contributor
 
*[[Linda Harvey]]:  another contributor-cum-homophobic maniac
 
*[[Self projection as god]]:  a favored tactic
 
*[[Zion Oil]]:  A biblical petrochemical(!) company heavily promoted by WND
 
*[[The Gateway Pundit]]
 
*[[The Daily Mail]]: The British version.
 
 
==External links==
 
==External links==
 +
* {{Official website|http://www.wnd.com/}}
  
*[http://www.worldnetdaily.com The site in question.]
+
{{DEFAULTSORT:Worldnetdaily}}
*[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/terry-krepel/whats-worldnetdaily-hidin_b_224496.html ''What's WorldNetDaily Hiding on Obama Birth Certificate?''], Terry Krepel, Huffington Post, 2 July 2009.
+
[[Category:American political websites]]
*[http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/ten-most-absurd-stories-santorum-worldnetdaily ''The Ten Most Absurd Stories at Rick Santorum's New Home, WorldNetDaily''], Rightwingwatch, 4 December 2012.
+
[[Category:Conservatism in the United States]]
*[http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-report/browse-all-issues/2012/fall/world-nuts-daily WorldNet Daily Continues to Pump Out Outrageous Propaganda], Leah Nelson, Southern Poverty Law Center Intelligence Report, Fall 2012.
+
[[Category:Criticism of journalism]]
 
+
[[Category:News agencies]]
==Footnotes==
+
[[Category:News websites]]
 
+
[[Category:Political organizations in the United States]]
{{reflist|2|80%}}
+
[[Category:Alternative journalism organizations]]
 
+
[[Category:American journalism organizations]]
{{clognav}}
+
[[Category:Internet properties established in 1997]]
{{keyword|clogkey=WorldNetDaily}}
+
 
+
[[Category:Denialism]]
+
[[Category:Extreme wingnuttery]]
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[[Category:Internet hate sites]]
+
[[Category:Internet kooks]]
+
[[Category:Media]]
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[[Category:Right-wing activists]]
+
[[Category:Birtherism]]
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Revision as of 16:23, 29 October 2013

Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox newspaper

WorldNetDaily (WND) is an American web site that publishes news and associated content from the perspective of U.S. conservatives and the political right.[1] It was founded in May 1997 by Joseph Farah with the stated intent of "exposing wrongdoing, corruption and abuse of power"[2] and is headquartered in Washington, D.C.[3]

Contents

History

In 1997 Joseph Farah created the news website WorldNetDaily[2] as a division of the Western Journalism Center. It was subsequently spun off in 1999 as a for-profit organization[4] with the backing of $4.5 million from investors, Farah owning a majority of the stock.[5] The site describes itself as "an independent news company dedicated to uncompromising journalism".[2] In 1999, WorldNetDaily.com, Inc. was incorporated in Delaware[4] with offices in Cave Junction, Oregon.[6] According to its website, World Net Daily has a staff of approximately 25 people.[2] In 2007 it was headquartered in Medford, Oregon.[7]

Seeking credentials to cover the U.S. Congress in 2002, WND was opposed by the Standing Committee of Correspondents. This panel of journalists was charged by Congress with administering press credentials. Until 1996, Internet-only publications had been deemed unacceptable.[8] WND turned to the United States Senate Committee on Rules and Administration for help, arguing that the panel's decision had violated the site's constitutional rights to due process, equal protection, and freedom of the press". Faced "with legal threats and negative publicity, the panel reversed itself, voting 3–2 to award WorldNetDaily its credentials".[9] Shortly after, the rules were formally adjusted to clarify the participation of online publications.[10]

Description

WND provides news, editorials, commentaries, letters to the editor, forums, and conducts a daily poll. It claims its editorial content has a diverse range of viewpoints,[11] though predominantly from a right wing or conservative perspective.[1][12][13] Besides providing articles authored by its own staff, the site links to news from other publications. Notable staff includes Jerusalem Bureau Chief Aaron Klein, White House Correspondent Lester Kinsolving, and Staff Writer Jerome Corsi. Its commentary pages feature editorials from the site's founder, Joseph Farah and other social conservative authors such as Pat Buchanan, Ellis Washington, Ann Coulter, David Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly, and Chuck Norris. It also has featured weekly columns by libertarians Walter Williams, Vox Day, Ilana Mercer, as well as liberals such as Maralyn Lois Polak, Bill Press, and pro-life moderate Nat Hentoff.[14]

WND also offers products for sale, typically these are products sold by its related book service, WND Book Service, by its publishing house, WND Books, or by its retail operation, ShopNetDaily. The site also runs a printed magazine, Whistleblower, and other companies such as the G2 Bulletin, a subscription-only website described as an "intelligence resource" for "insights into geo-political and geo-strategic developments".

WND Books

WorldNetDaily also publishes books under the imprint WND Books. The imprint was launched in 2002 through a partnership with Thomas Nelson Publishers (a 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;[15] Thomas Nelson continued the division for a time under the Nelson Current imprint.[16] The WND Books imprint was subsequently published under a partnership with Cumberland House Publishing[17] 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.[18] In January 2008, WND announced it had acquired World Ahead Media.[19] In April 2011, Paul Harris, writing for the The Guardian, called WND Books "a niche producer of rightwing conspiracy theories, religious books and 'family values' tracts".[20]

Controversies

WND has published articles that have created controversies and criticism of the site by other media outlets.

9/11 attacks

On September 13, 2001, WND published a commentary by Anthony C. LoBaido regarding the September 11 attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C., that occurred 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".[21] 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 explaining that the article did not reflect the viewpoint of WND, and that it, like most other commentary pieces, had not been reviewed before being published.[22]

Barack Obama citizenship conspiracy theories

Barack Obama's long-form birth certificate

WorldNetDaily has repeatedly publicized conspiracy theories about Barack Obama's citizenship status, claiming that Obama is not a natural-born American citizen and is thus not eligible to serve as president.[23][24][25] Such claims are considered unsubstantiated or debunked by more legitimate news sources. After the 2008 presidential campaign, WND began an online petition to have Obama's Hawaiian birth certificate released to the public. The website also unsuccessfully urged Supreme Court justices to hear several lawsuits aiming to release Obama's birth certificate.[26]

Libel lawsuit

On September 20, 2000, WND published an article[27] claiming that 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, the car dealer, Clark Jones, filed a lawsuit[28] 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[29] 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;[30] but, on February 13, 2008, WND announced that a confidential out-of-court settlement had been reached with Jones.[31] A settlement statement jointly drafted by all parties in the lawsuit stated that a Freedom of Information Act request showed that the allegations had been false, and that WND had misquoted sources.[31]

Ann Coulter speaking at Homocon

WND has also come out against LGBT participants in the Republican party and their associates. In 2010 when writer and pundit Ann Coulter accepted the invitation to attend and speak at GOProud's Homocon 2010 event, Farah announced the withdrawal of Coulter's name from the list of speakers at the company's Taking America Back conference.[32] Coulter responded by saying that speaking engagements do not imply endorsement of the hosting organization; however, after Farah published private emails between himself and Coulter, Coulter called him a “publicity whore” and a “swine” in an email to the Daily Caller blog.[33]

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Burns, John F. (May 5, 2009). "Britain Identifies 16 Barred From Entering U.K.". The New York Times (New York City, NY: Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Jr.). http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/06/world/europe/06britain.html?scp=3&sq=WorldNetDaily&st=nyt. Retrieved Mar 26, 2010. "according to WorldNetDaily.com, a conservative Web site." 
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 World Net Daily. "About Us". Joseph Farah. http://www.worldnetdaily.com/About%20WND. Retrieved May 25, 2011. 
  3. "Contact WND." WorldNetDaily. Retrieved on August 14, 2009.
  4. 4.0 4.1 "World's 'No. 1 website' goes for-profit". World Net Daily (McClean, VA: Joseph Farah). October 1, 1999. http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=17207. Retrieved May 25, 2011. "Beginning today, WorldNetDaily.com, voted the most popular website on the Internet the last 23 weeks, is officially a for-profit corporation..." 
  5. Krepel, Terry (February 19, 2002). "The 'O' Word". ConWebWatch. http://conwebwatch.tripod.com/stories/2002/wndown.html. Retrieved February 2, 2008. "So, who owns WorldNetDaily? Joseph Farah is a little reluctant to answer." 
  6. "On the Web, Small and Focused Pays Off". BusinessWeek. http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/aug2001/nf20010828_333.htm. Retrieved November 4, 2006. 
  7. "Contact WND". World Net Daily. Joseph Farah. December 2007. Archived from the original on December 25, 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20071225214520/http://www.worldnetdaily.com/contactwnd.asp. Retrieved May 27, 2011. "WorldNetDaily.com, Inc., Medford, OR" 
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  11. "Right-wing publisher: We run "some misinformation"". Salon.com. April 13, 2011. http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/04/11/joseph_farah_wnd_misinformation. 
  12. Ruble, Drew (August 20, 2004). "Conservative pub criticizes Fisk's appointment of O'Leary". Nashville Times. http://www.nashvillepost.com/news/2004/8/20/conservative_pub_criticizes_fisks_appointment_of_oleary. Retrieved March 19, 2009. 
  13. Gumbel, Andrew (December 8, 2005). "Right-wing Christians launch Christmas crusade". Dublin Independent. http://www.independent.ie/world-news/americas/rightwing-christians-launch-christmas-crusade-224774.html. Retrieved March 19, 2009. 
  14. "WorldNetDaily: Columnists". WorldNetDaily. http://www.worldnetdaily.com/resources/columnists.asp. Retrieved December 16, 2006. 
  15. "Joseph Farah and WorldNetDaily". ConWebWatch. http://conwebwatch.tripod.com/stories/primer.html. Retrieved November 14, 2006. 
  16. "Thomas Nelson Launches Political Imprint". The Write News. http://www.writenews.com/2004/110504_thomas_nelson_politics.htm. Retrieved November 18, 2006. 
  17. "WND Books signs 'Unfit for Command' author". WorldNetDaily. http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=40983. Retrieved November 21, 2006. 
  18. "New publishing partner for WND Books". WorldNetDaily. http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=52262. Retrieved November 23, 2006. 
  19. "WND acquires World Ahead Media". WorldNetDaily. http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=59826. Retrieved February 24, 2008. 
  20. Paul Harris (April 21, 2011). "The born-again birther debate". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/apr/21/barack-obama-us-elections-2012. Retrieved May 2, 2011. 
  21. "Judgement Day in Mystery Babylon?". WorldNetDaily. Archived from the original on September 17, 2001. http://web.archive.org/web/20010917014615/http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=24458. Retrieved September 13, 2001. 
  22. "The new political correctness police". WorldNetDaily. http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=24670. Retrieved September 26, 2001. 
  23. New York Times
  24. MSNBC
  25. USA Today
  26. "Please Check Eligibility, Thousands Ask Supremes", WorldNetDaily, January 16, 2009
  27. Thompson II, Charles C., and Hays, Tony. "Officials say Gore killed drug probe". WorldNetDaily. http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?pageId=4260. Retrieved February 18, 2008. 
  28. "Second Amended Complaint" (PDF). http://conwebwatch.tripod.com/graphics/wndlawsuitdocs/jonessuit.pdf. Retrieved February 18, 2008. 
  29.  ;Krepel, Terry. "WorldNetDaily on Trial". ConWebWatch. http://conwebwatch.tripod.com/stories/2007/wndlawsuit.html. Retrieved February 18, 2008. 
  30. Unruh, Bob. "Future of reporting scheduled for trial". WorldNetDaily. http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=59844. Retrieved February 18, 2008. 
  31. 31.0 31.1 "WND settles $165 million libel case". WorldNetDaily. http://www.wnd.com/2008/02/56353/. Retrieved February 18, 2008. 
  32. "WND drops Ann Coulter from Miami event over Homoconflict". WorldNetDaily. August 17, 2010. http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=192405. 
  33. Chris Moody (4:39 pm August 18, 2010). "Ann Coulter’s Email to The Daily Caller About WorldNetDaily". http://dailycaller.com/2010/08/18/ann-coulters-email-to-the-daily-caller-about-worldnetdaily/. 

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