WorldNetDaily’s pattern of playing the victim and trying to intimidate anyone who Joseph Farah believes has slighted his website is playing out again with WND’s lawsuit against the White House Correspondents’ Association for not giving it as many seats as it demanded to the upcoming White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
Of course, that’s not how WND is framing it. An April 13 WND article accuses the WHCA of “doing the bidding of the Obama administration in trying to belittle, exclude and irreparably harm a leading Internet news outlet, WorldNetDaily, which has carried commentary critical of the president.” It continues, quoting from the complaint filed by right-wing activist lawyer Larry Klayman:
“It … is the most prestigious event of the year in Washington, D.C. … It thus enhances a news outlet’s prestige to rent tables at and attend the event and is a must to maintain a news outlet’s, such as WND’s, reputation,” the complaint explains.
Of course, WND’s reputation is that of a activist organization masquerading as a “news” organization, telling outright lies, spinning conspiracy theories and flinging offensive smears and at people who commit the sin of diverging from its far-right political agenda.
The complaint also notes that WND planned to milk the dinner to promote the new book about its White House correspondent, Les Kinsolving: “Obviously, this harmed and continues to harm WND’s ability to celebrate [the tenure of] Les Kinsolving and the publication of his daughter’s new book, but also harms WND’s access to White House reporting and its reputation generally, as it is being treated as a ‘black sheep’ in the media world,”
But Kinsolving is a black sheep, noted for his bias and loaded questions and not taken seriously as a reporter.
An April 14 WND article tries to up the victimhood factor, claiming that the WHCA is snubbing WND because it “hold[s] fast to the traditional role of serving as a watchdog on government and the country’s major influences.” That’s laughable as well — WND only holds liberals accountable to those standards while giving a pass to conservative politicians. As we’ve detailed, WND was extremely slow to the game on scandals involving the right-leaning Jack Abramoff and Duke Cunningham — indeed, WND didn’t report on Cunningham’s corruption until five days after he resigned as a Republican congressman.
WND pulled this same victimhood/intimidation stunt in 2002, when it tried to intimidate the Senate Press Gallery into giving WND a permanent congressional press pass. WND eventually got the pass, which it has made little use of since reporter Paul Sperry left WND shortly thereafter. Kinsolving does no original reporting and has been hanging out in the White House press corps long before WND existed.
As more people become aware of the kind of intimidation model under which WND operates, that will become less and less effective over time. WND has earned its horrible reputation — which it freely admits it’s trying to improve by establishing a major presence at the WHCA dinner — and the WHCA shouldn’t be a WND’s handmaiden in trying to improve it.