No apologies for news coverage

Though most Americans are breathing a collective sigh of relief
that the Y2K computer bug did not produce apocalyptic destruction over
the weekend, some are questioning whether the so-called "millennium bug"
was over-hyped for political or financial reasons and are demanding an
apology.

Some readers of WorldNetDaily have accused the popular Internet
newspaper of "hyping the Y2K issue for profit" and "subconsciously
wanting the world to end with Y2K."

In fact, the newspaper spent considerable time and effort publicizing
potential Year 2000 computer problems both in the United States and
abroad. Concern over Y2K-related failures even prompted editors to
create a special daily Y2K update section for the newspaper early last
year.

Nevertheless, WND editors say they see no need to apologize to
readers for the extensive coverage, and in fact credit many stories in the paper
over the past 12 months with alerting key government and business
sectors to the problem.

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"We published two sorts of news articles about Y2K," said WND's
founder and Editor Joseph Farah.

"First, we ran wire reports like Associated Press and Reuters, and
newspaper articles from all over the world, detailing U.S. and other
governments' own assessments -- often dismal -- of the compliance
efforts of various agencies. We carried reports on how much money the Federal
Reserve was pumping into the system to prevent runs on the banks, and
reports on the State Department's warnings that nuclear plants in Russia
and neighboring nations were at risk. We carried official assessments
that medical diagnostic equipment would be severely affected by Y2K, and
that airlines were grounding flights. We carried poll results detailing
what everyone from information technology executives to housewives were
planning to do personally to prepare for potential disruptions.

"Second, our own investigative reports detailed the preparations of
frontline agencies like the Federal Emergency Management Agency -- whose
historic mobilization last week anticipated a full national emergency.
We filed exclusive reports on the National Guard's various preparations for Y2K
contingency planning. In short, we accurately reported what the
government was saying, doing and planning behind closed doors."

Michael Hyatt,
well-known Y2K author and lecturer who became a WND columnist last
September
in order to alert readers to the potential problems posed by Y2K,
generally focused on personal preparations in his daily columns.

"Y2K was never about prediction or prophecy -- no one can do that.
It was, and still is, about risk management," he said. Reminding
skeptical readers that "I never once predicted anything," Hyatt noted
that, on a number of occasions, "I informed readers that I was a Y2K
agnostic and that I didn't know what would happen."

Most importantly, Hyatt said, it is unwise to believe that because
there were no massive Y2K-related failures over New Year's Day that the danger is over.

"If you've read anything I have written in the last year," he said,
"you know that the threat from Y2K is both acute and chronic."

Regarding "acute problems" -- those that become immediately apparent
-- Hyatt said that "it looks like we have escaped the worst, and for that I
am indeed grateful. I am especially pleased that we have not seen any
terrorist or cyber-terrorist attacks -- at least so far."

But, he cautioned, there remains a secondary danger from Y2K-related
failures in problems he described as "chronic."

Those kinds of computer problems may "surface in the days or weeks
that follow the rollover as corrupted data are passed from one system to
another," Hyatt said. "I have said from the very beginning that this is
the greatest threat, and it will take weeks, or perhaps even months,
before we will be able to assess the full impact."

Others share Hyatt's concern over long-term chronic system failures.
John Koskinen, Y2K chief for the Clinton administration, has warned
Americans to be on the lookout for "degradation [of computer systems]
over time." And on Saturday, Matthew Holte, vice president of Y2K
research for the Gartner Group, said of the millennium bug, "This is not
a single catastrophic event, but an issue that must be managed
throughout the year."

"I think it is far too early to declare victory or to feel badly because
you or others made preparations," Hyatt said, adding that he personally
is "not yet willing to make my plans" based on a supposition that no Y2K

problems will occur over the next several months.

To those claiming WorldNetDaily made mountain out of a Y2K molehill,
Farah noted, "The United States spend an estimated $100 billion on
fixing Y2K. If it was hype, we sure wasted a lot of money. I would just
ask those readers who feel WorldNetDaily was hyping Y2K to consider that the information we
published was accurate, complete, and reflected official and expert
reports and assessments of the problem. So please, don't shoot the
messenger."