Topic: WorldNetDaily
Remember WorldNetDaily's News Expo? WND announced it back in January as "an interactive conference event for news breakers, news shakers, news makers and news junkies," the place where "some 1,500 journalists, bloggers, publishers, authors and news consumers are expected to gather to participate in the breaking of news, the analysis of events and the discussion of trends," held at "the biggest hotel ballroom in the nation's capital." Ann Coulter was tapped for the keynote address, and it would also feature a "10th anniversary party for the leading independent news source on the Net – WorldNetDaily.com." Even a battle of the bands was planned to pick a musical act for the event. WND editor Joseph Farah breathlessly promoted the idea in a January 15 column: "Together, in one giant room – the biggest in Washington – you'll rub shoulders with top newsmakers, top journalists, top bloggers, top authors as well as top exhibitors and sponsors from the world of media and publishing." (Farah also erroneously described the May 11-12 event as occurring during D.C.'s cherry blossom season.) Farah exhorted his readers: "[Y]ou should make your plans to attend right now as a show of support to me and WND. We need to make this event a big success if, indeed, it is to continue as an annual tradition and if it is to have the impact we envision."
Uh, never mind.
The big event is a week away, and there's nary a word about it on the WND website. Indeed, the last mention of it at WND is March 9, at the bottom of an article by Aaron Klein, who had been scheduled to be part of the lineup. The expo's website redirects to the website promoting WND's 10th anniversary, where there's also nary a mention of the event. And it's missing from WND's calendar of anniversary events.
Yep, we'd say it's dead, ceased to be, bleedin' demised, bereft of life, joined the choir invisible. It is an ex-Expo.
What happened? Given that WND hasn't mentioned it in two months, it certainly isn't about to enlighten its readers as to why. We suspect there was a cost-benefit ratio problem: If we recall correctly, the admission price for the full weekend including the banquet at which Coulter was to speak was more than $600, a lot to pay for hanging out with B- and C-list right-wingers (Coulter's a A-list right-winger, but we doubt she would be hanging around the entire weekend). Other featured guests had included Hal Lindsey and Jerome Corsi; Corsi was to take part in the one event that could be described as not explicitly right-wing -- a debate with professor Robert Pastor over the idea of a European Union-like "North American Community," which Corsi virulently opposes. (We proposed a debate between us and Farah over WND's style of news coverage, but we never heard back.)
Other WND anniversary initiatives, meanwhile, seem to be going apace. We haven't heard much about the Courage in Media Awards lately either, but the website's still live, so we'll assume that's still a going proposition, even though the award was to have been given out at News Expo. And the Caribbean cruise is still promoted on the WND website, where at least you get some nice Caribbean scenery for your money that helps to make up for being stuck on a boat with Joseph Farah and David Kupelian.
