I’m kind of surprised there’s been so much quizzical – even cynical – reaction to my correction of Joe Scarborough for characterizing WorldNetDaily.com as “a conservative website.”
I know there was no ill intent on Scarborough’s part. He likes conservatives. He considers himself one. He probably thought he was paying me and my staff a compliment.
But, since I am not a conservative, and have written before that I actually detest the label with a passion, I thought a correction was in order. After all, if I have created a conservative website, I would be very disappointed in myself. I don’t think the world really needs another conservative website.
That correction has prompted a deluge of derisive letters. Typically, these writers say they decided to visit WorldNetDaily for the first time after hearing me on the MSNBC show and decided based on their casual, cursory visit that the site is conservative.
Now, seven years ago, I founded WorldNetDaily with a very specific mission: “WorldNetDaily.com is an independent newssite created to capitalize on new media technology, to reinvigorate and revitalize the role of the free press as a guardian of liberty, an exponent of truth and justice, an uncompromising disseminator of news.
“WorldNetDaily.com performs this function by remaining faithful to the central role of a free press in a free society: as a watchdog exposing government waste, fraud, corruption and abuse of power – the mission envisioned by our founders and protected in the First Amendment of the Constitution.”
To my knowledge, no other news agency in the world has a similar mission. And certainly none are carrying it out. Yet, WND has been faithful to that mission.
If I were a conservative, I would proudly tell you. I am not. If WND were a conservative website, I would tell you and probably reap greater economic rewards as a result. But we are not.
Nevertheless, there are the scoffers – usually with their own twisted ideological agenda.
Take, for example, the website Media Matters, founded by the ignominious David Brock. Normally I would not even mention the name of this partisan media monitoring site that has as its rather inelegantly stated mission: “Media Matters for America is a Web-based, not-for-profit progressive research and information center dedicated to comprehensively monitoring, analyzing, and correcting conservative misinformation in the U.S. media. Conservative misinformation is defined as news or commentary presented in the media that is not accurate, reliable, or credible and that forwards the conservative agenda.”
Which mission do you suppose serves a loftier purpose? Which represents a more noble endeavor? Which better serves the public?
Which one seems more ideologically driven? Which one seems more obsessed and fanatical? Which one seems more one-sided and biased?
Take a look at the staff bios and you will find that most have backgrounds in Democratic Party politics. They are not journalists. They are activists.
On the other hand, I have spent 30 years doing one thing – gathering the news and presenting it to people as accurately as I can. I did this for 20 years as a daily newspaperman – doing everything one can do in such an operation, from reporting to running editorial operations to serving as publisher. Then I founded WorldNetDaily because I saw that my colleagues had lost their way, their purpose, their sense of mission.
I’m not a conservative. I’m a newsman. I’m a news analyst.
WorldNetDaily is not conservative. It is a pioneering news agency. And, as even a cursory glance will demonstrate, it serves as a forum for a broad spectrum of opinion – even positions the ignominious David Brock and the activist staff of Media Matters might appreciate.
Why is it a big deal to me that I might be misidentified as a “conservative”?
Because it’s not accurate. Because it’s not true. And, at WorldNetDaily, we actually value accuracy and truth.
