Topic: WorldNetDaily
When we wrote our blog post on WorldNetDaily pretending that attendance at Glenn Beck's rally last Saturday was racially diverse, we noted that one of the articles was written by Anita Crane, a name we didn't recall seeing on a WND byline before (though it turns out she has written two previous articles for WND, and she is identified in a 2006 WND article as "editor of Celebrate Life magazine").
Now we know a lot more about Crane -- and one of the people she wrote about.
A Sept. 1 Southern Maryland Online article focuses on local author Ron Miller, who was quoted extensively in Crane's article, which also made sure to mention Miller's new book, "Sellout: Musings from Uncle Tom's Porch." The Drudge Report linked to Crane's WND article, and sales of Miller's book spiked on Amazon.com, he said.
The end of the article includes the following note:
Note: Ron volunteered that the article on WorldNetDaily which mentioned him was written by the woman who edited his book.
That's right -- Anita Crane featured an author whose book she edited in her WND article. Of course, neither she nor WND disclosed this, even though she had previously promoted Miller's book on her personal website by describing herself as "Ron's editor and contributor."
WND has a long history of violating journalistic ethics by failing to disclose its personal and financial interests in the subjects and people it writes about, so it's probably not surprising that Crane thought she could get away with it too.
A freelancer like Crane perhaps shouldn't be looking to WND as guidance for ethics, since its endemic ethical lapses may very well keep her from getting further freelance work (from publications other than WND).
