WorldNetDaily editor Joseph Farah — unironically, near as we can tell — writes this in his March 31 column:
Do you know why people love “fake news”?
Do you know why so many “fake news” sites carry it?
Do you know why “fake news” goes viral in the form of emails spread all over the planet with a click of the “send” button?
Let me count the reasons:
- It’s easier to make stuff up than report factually.
- It gets clicks that turn into revenue for enterprising lazy sites.
- Despite being untrue, it is fun, entertaining and often makes people feel good.
Yes, it’s frustrating for people like me who struggle to support actual news sites. It’s confusing, too, because when someone sends me one of these inviting “stories,” I usually wind up wasting at least a precious minute or two of my day determining its falsehood.
As with his previous rants about “fake news” and “conveniently forgetful news,” Farah may just as well be writing about his own operation.
WND’s reputation for publishing fake news is legion. In the past month alone, we’ve seen WND uncritically tout Andrew Napolitano’s discredited conspiracy theory that British intelligence wiretapped Donald Trump’s campaign at the behest of President Obama, and WND columnist Barbara Simpson either taking wildly out of context or completely fabricating quotes by Genocide Watch’s Gregory Stanton to promote fears about a “genocide” of whites in South Africa. Both the “news” article and Simpson’s column remain live and uncorrected at WND’s website.
If Farah is tired of dealing with fake news, maybe he shouldn’t publish so much of it.