What does it say about a news organization when its leader tells easily disproven lies?
WorldNetDaily editor and CEO Joseph Farah does exactly that in a June 21 WND article attacking Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan. The article is headlined “Anti-military zealot on Supreme Court?” and quotes Farah as saying that “Kagan is a radical anti-military and pro-abortion zealot.”
That is demonstrably false. Kagan is on the record as repeatedly praising the military for its “courage,” “dedication” and “great service,” and she has called military service “the greatest service a person can give for their country.” And if Kagan is such a “zealot,” would she be receiving the support of solicitors general from across the political spectrum, such as Democratic appointees Walter Dellinger, Drew Days, and Seth Waxman and Republican appointees Charles Fried, Kenneth Starr, and Theodore Olson?
This isn’t the only lie Farah tells. He’s also quoted as saying: “This woman, as president of her university, banned the U.S. military from recruiting on campus. … Just contemplate rewarding that kind of vehemently anti-American action with a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court. Elena Kagan must be stopped.”
First, Kagan is not “president of her university”; she is dean of her university’s law school. Second, she did not “ban the U.S. military from recruiting on campus”; law school students had access to military recruiters during her entire tenure as dean, and she prohibited military recruiters from using the school’s career services office for only a single semester.
The short answer to why a journalist would tell so many lies to his readers is that Farah is not a journalist — he is an activist. And his WorldNetDaily is not a news organization; it is, for all practical purposes, a for-profit activist group.
Speaking of profit, there is a reason Farah is telling you these lies — he has something to sell you. Farah would like to join his “Stop Kagan Campaign,” in which you send him $24.95 to deliver “personalized, individually addressed, anti-Kagan letters to all 100 U.S. senators by Fed Ex.” Farah adds: “It’s a phenomenal bargain. … It makes it easy for you to sound off on this historically bad nomination. It’s a small investment. And I am convinced that if enough Americans take advantage of it, Kagan will be stopped — even by this Senate.”
Ultimately, this isn’t a “news” article at all — it’s an ad. It seems that Farah wants to make money so bad he’s willing to tell blatant lies. And that tells you all you need to know about WorldNetDaily.
(Cross-posted at Media Matters.)