The 'conservatives' who hate us

It's ironic that as WND was bringing down the first member of the Barack Obama administration some so-called "conservatives" were busy attacking WND.

While they tried to make the case that WND was a "one-issue" news agency, obsessed with "conspiracy mongering" about Obama's constitutional eligibility, WND was busy exposing "Green Jobs Czar" Van Jones – probably the most extreme high-ranking official in any U.S. administration, as well as a genuine first-class conspiracist.

In fact, much of the U.S. media establishment has dissed WND for weaving conspiracy tales about Obama's birth certificate while ignoring the fact that one of Obama's top aides promoted the idea the previous administration masterminded the Sept. 11 attacks.

Indeed, WND's journalistic coups have been systematically ignored by our colleagues for the last 12 years.

And we fully expect George Soros front organizations like Media Matters to wage jihad against WND. After all, organizations like that believe the news media are too skeptical of Big Government. I have always believed a truly free and independent press can never be skeptical enough of Big Government.

So, for 12 years, whether the White House was occupied by Republicans or Democrats and no matter who was running the show in Congress, WND has consistently been a watchdog on government. This is what we do. This is what we have always done. This is what we will continue to do no matter from which direction the brickbats fly.

Joseph Farah's book "Stop the Presses: The Inside Story of the New Media Revolution" explains why traditional news sources are gasping for breath amid Internet, talk radio phenomena

Lately, many of the brickbats have come from bloggers who call themselves "conservatives."

Now, much of the criticism of WND over the last 12 years has been motivated by jealousy. I've always recognized that. Some of these people just can't understand why their blogs aren't as big and influential – even among their target constituency – as WND is.

They don't understand what it is we do.

So let me try to explain it.

Unlike any of them, I have been a newsman my entire life. I have never run a "conservative" organization. I don't consider myself a "conservative." I don't consider myself a "political activist." I don't consider myself a "community organizer." I don't consider myself a "Republican." I don't take instruction from any one. I don't have any sacred cows. I am a newsman – as I was for the last 30 years, running daily newspapers in major markets before launching WND in 1997.

So I don't really care when political activists try to oust me from their club. I never was a part of it to begin with and never had any aspirations to join.

Why they worry that associating with me and WND might tarnish their club, I can't understand. There's a movement right now to try to get the Republican Party to stop advertising on WND. Interestingly, the Obama campaign was a bigger advertiser on WND in 2008 than was the John McCain campaign. And the Republican Party has never been a significant advertiser.

It's all crazy.

Meanwhile, my colleagues in the news media are having a field day with the story of those attacking WND. They interview all kinds of experts on the subject, but don't bother to ask me about it.

Watch Rachel Maddow at MSNBC for a classic example of this kind of "journalistic responsibility" in action.

Even when WND is the story, no one asks us to respond or debate.

At least Van Jones was given the opportunity to respond to charges that he promoted "conspiracy tales" – not WND, not me!

But that's all right.

WND is doing just fine, thank you.

Unlike Maddow's "reporting," WND's is actually having an impact. It's actually drawing an audience. It's actually appreciated by a growing number of Americans who are sick and tired of media and government and political experts telling them how to think.

At WND, we'll just continue to let our reporting do our talking for us.