Thu, Sep 16, 2004 3:38pm ET

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WorldNetDaily's Joseph Farah: "We are not conservative. We are the largest independent news site on the Net."

WorldNetDaily.com (WND) founder, editor, and CEO Joseph Farah denied that WorldNetDaily is "conservative." On the September 14 edition of MSNBC's Scarborough Country, host and former Representative Joe Scarborough (R-FL) introduced Farah as "the founder and editor of WorldNetDaily.com, a conservative website." Farah responded, "WorldNetDaily is not a conservative news site. We have never described ourselves that way. ...
[J]ust for the record, we are not conservative. We are the largest independent news site on the net."

Farah appeared on Scarborough Country to discuss whether "conservative Internet bloggers" could "bring down CBS News' [anchor and managing editor] Dan Rather" over the controversial memos exposed by CBS's 60 Minutes.

A September 7 "WorldNetDaily Exclusive" article boasts that WorldNetDaily.com is the No. 1 political website, according to Alexa.com, an Amazon.com company that collects and ranks Internet traffic. The article also reported that Alexa.com ranked WorldNetDaily.com as the No. 1 most-visited conservative Internet site. The No.1 WorldNetDaily.com is followed in the conservative website ratings by right-wing news site NewsMax.com (No. 2); the conservative online forum Free Republic (No. 3); the conservative Heritage Foundation's website Townhall.com (No. 4); and the conservative National Review Online (No. 5). The September 7 WorldNetDaily article noted: "Farah is quick to point out that he does not consider either himself, nor his independent news service, 'conservative.'" WND's definition of "independent" refers to "news sources developed exclusively for the Internet," according to the article.

Media Matters for America has repeatedly documented conservative misinformation being propagated by WorldNetDaily.com:

  • WND columnist and author Bob Kohn fabricated evidence that Senator John Kerry was having an affair with a New York Times reporter.

  • WorldNetDaily.com columnist and White House correspondent Les Kinsolving distorted a 1973 statement by Senator John McCain (R-AZ) to smear Kerry.

  • WorldNetDaily.com news reports have repeated discredited charges against Kerry's Vietnam war record; distorted a speech by progressive financier and philanthropist George Soros; and claimed that weapons of mass destruction were discovered in Iraq.

—N.C.

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