Happy Birthday, WND!
Topic: WorldNetDaily
WorldNetDaily marked its ninth anniversary yesterday. Let's count the misleading statements and outright lies made in the article and Joseph Farah column celebrating it, shall we?

"We basically started WorldNetDaily in semi-secret," says Chief Executive Officer and Editor Joseph Farah. "It began as something of a cottage industry – a total experiment, without grand ambitions or lofty business plans."

This conflicts with Farah's statement in his column that "Elizabeth and I had grand aspirations from the start."

"To this day, WND is the No. 1 'conservative website' in the world, according to Alexa.com," he points out. "There's just one problem with that. There's nothing 'conservative' about WND. In fact, it's quite a radical idea. It doesn't promote a political agenda. It seeks the truth. It doesn't adhere to a party line. It reports the news with uncompromising tenacity and fierce independence. In fact, it's radical about independence. Anyone who has ever read WND for more than a week can see that."

As we've documented, WND very much hews to a conservative, anti-Democrat agenda, which is actually far-right enough to be considered Christian reconstructionist.

While there is no "independent news" category, there is Alexa's "News and Media" ranking, where WND gets another No. 1 classification.

WND has repeatedly lied about this; it's the Society > Politics > Conservatism > News and Media ranking.

We believe in investigative reporting into government waste, fraud, corruption and abuse.

Not if it involves Republicans.

We believe we must be credible, relentless and fiercely independent to succeed. And we believe the truth will set all of us free.

WND retracted two articles last year because they contained false claims, apparently based on the partisan and personal beliefs of WND reporters and editors rather than the facts. WND regularly plagiarizes the work of others, and it regularly presents ads as "news" and steers news articles to the benefit of advertisers. It also regularly runs news releases from conservative groups nearly verbatim and with their claims unanswered by the targets of said press releases. And it repeatedly fails to disclose its personal and business links to the people and organizations it covers.

Farah also states: "And, with our 9th anniversary today, we kick off what I see as a 19-month celebration of our first decade on the Net. From now through December 2007, we're planning conferences, parties, galas and other festivities to mark the occasion."

Here's a challenge for WND and Farah: If you really believe that "the truth will set all of us free," how 'bout inviting ConWebWatch to some of those events? What better way to demonstrate your commitment to the truth than by openly dealing with your most knowledgeable observer? C'mon, WND, waddaya say?