Al Gore has finally found work.
Whether it’s honest work remains to be seen.
He announced this week he will serve as chairman of the board of a new cable news network for young adults. Gore’s investor group purchased Newsworld International from Vivendi Universal Entertainment for an undisclosed sum.
The industry magazine said in October Gore was set to purchase Newsworld for about $70 million.
The adviser said the proposed network will look like a synthesis of CNN and MTV, positioning itself as “a professional news operation reaching an aware, younger, hipper audience.”
Why does that strike me as so funny? Al Gore attracting a “hipper audience.”
The deal is causing chuckles throughout the industry, but there’s something about it that does not strike me as humorous.
Al Gore is a danger to the First Amendment.
For nearly four years, WND has battled a $165 million defamation lawsuit brought by Al Gore’s top fund-raiser in his home state – Clark Jones.
The multimillion-dollar case was brought by Jones, a Savannah, Tenn., car dealer and former Tennessee State Democratic Party official. A comprehensive investigative series on Al Gore by reporters Charles Thompson and Tony Hays, published by WorldNetDaily.com during the closing months of the November 2000 presidential election, reported that Jones had allegedly been under investigation by federal law enforcement in connection with drug dealing.
Jones, who had raised more than $100,000 for Gore’s campaign and, sources say, frequently bragged to other Tennessee businessmen about his close links to Gore, was reportedly humiliated by Gore’s loss of his home state, which cost Gore the election. The series on Gore and his cronies, including Jones, arguably played a significant factor in Gore’s loss, according to some Tennessee political observers.
“I don’t think it’s an accident that the No. 1 independent Internet newssite was targeted by powerful and wealthy friends of the losing presidential candidate – and that the suit pertained to an investigative series that may well have cost that candidate the Electoral College votes he needed for victory,” I said at the time. I stand by that comment today.
Understand that this lawsuit would be dropped in a flat second if Al Gore wanted it to be dropped.
Understand that WND did nothing wrong and libeled no one in the publication of this exhaustive series.
Understand that anyone who would support such a lawsuit has a real problem with a vigorous press doing investigative reporting into presidential candidates and their past.
Is this the kind of man we need behind yet another cable news network in this country?
By the way, as this costly lawsuit continues, our only recourse is to fight it every step of the way. If you would like to help us offset the enormous legal costs involved in the defense of this high-profile First-Amendment case, you may make a tax-deductible donation directly to the U.S. Justice Foundation by writing or calling:
United States Justice Foundation
2091 East Valley Parkway, Suite 1-C
Escondido, CA 92027
(760) 741-8086
Alternatively, donations can be made (but not tax-deductible) online to WND’s Legal Defense Fund online, or by calling WND toll-free at 1-800-4WNDCOM, or by mailing a check – made payable to WorldNetDaily Legal Defense Fund – to:
WorldNetDaily.com, Inc.
P.O. Box 1087
Grants Pass, OR 97528
