Sperry on O'Reilly tonight

Paul Sperry, WorldNetDaily Washington bureau chief, will be Bill O'Reilly's guest on Fox News Channel's top-rated "The O'Reilly Factor" tonight to discuss WND's 19-month battle with the Senate Press Gallery.

The segment airs at 8:45 p.m. Eastern and will be repeated at 11:45 Eastern.

WND, the largest independent newssite on the World Wide Web, was finally accredited by the Standing Committee of Correspondents for the gallery last week, marking the first time an independently owned Internet newspaper has received permanent congressional press credentials.

Led by lawyers for the U.S. Justice Foundation, WND charged that the Standing Committee originally denied its Feb. 8, 2001, application on political grounds, a violation of the Constitution. In a rare reversal, the panel last Tuesday voted 3-2 to allow WND unfettered access to covering Congress.

Both Sperry and WND founder and Editor Joseph Farah picked up their congressional hard passes Friday. The passes are essential for reporters given tighter security at the Capitol and other federal buildings.

Farah still vows to "dismantle" the Senate Press Gallery's biased system of deciding who is and isn't a journalist in Washington.

He notes that the Old Media gatekeepers there have accredited news agencies controlled by totalitarian governments, such as the regimes in Beijing and Cairo, while denying credentials for bona fide journalists working for independently owned news outlets based in the U.S.

Fox News host O'Reilly also writes an exclusive column for WND.

Other media coverage:

Internet inroads

Freedom of the press?

Click here for list of Senate Daily Press Gallery Members

Previous stories:

Press cops surrender, grant WND credentials

Is Bloomberg the new 'bully' on block?

Press police accredited 'left-wing S.F. hippies'

Rogues' gallery of press-pass holders

WND to sue Senate Press Gallery officials

Is Senate Press Gallery 'corrupt'?