WorldNetDaily

WorldNetDaily (WND), founded by Joseph Farah and Elizabeth Farah, is a politically-oriented website generally associated with American conservatism; Joseph Farah is a "favorite columnist" of the American Conservative Union. According to its mission statement, is a "an independent news company dedicated to uncompromising journalism, seeking truth and justice and revitalizing the role of the free press as a guardian of liberty. We remain faithful to the traditional and central role of a free press in a free society – as a light exposing wrongdoing, corruption and abuse of power. We also seek to stimulate a free-and-open debate about the great moral and political ideas facing the world and to promote freedom and self-government by encouraging personal virtue and good character."

"Indeed, WorldNetDaily.com is a fiercely independent newssite committed to hard-hitting investigative reporting of government waste, fraud and abuse."

It is generally in favor of the policies of the State of Israel; its only listed foreign bureau is in Jerusalem, and Joseph Farah is a contributing expert for the Ariel Center for Policy Research, on the expert list of the Middle East Forum and a weekly columnist for the International Edition of the Jerusalem Post.

WND Scoops

The publication cites stories that it first reported, such as: (Quotes below are from the "Scoops" page; links are to specific articles)

• "Friends of Barack": In an interview with Ahmed Yousuf, a top adviser to Hamas said, during a live broadcast, he "hopes" Barack Obama becomes president and compared the Illinois senator to John F. Kennedy"
• " Wicked-pedia: The mega-website Wikipedia was found to have hundreds of graphic homosexual images, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation launched an investigation into child pornography on the ubiquitous online encyclopedia"
• "Brainwashing 101: A new plan by a California legislator proposes allowing schools to promote the overthrow of the U.S. government and to let teachers "inculcate in the mind of any pupil a preference for communism."

Birther Movement

WorldNetDaily is widely known for its advocacy of the Birther Movement theory that Barack Obama is not a natural-born citizen of the United States and is thus not eligible to be the President of the United States. WorldNetDaily published a purported Kenyan birth certificate with Obama's name on it, which turned out to be a clumsy fake produced by Orly Taitz.

Political relations

The Los Angeles Times reported that the Republican National Committee has paid WND for its mailing lists, and that critics have asked the RNC to cut ties with it, because "More than any other group, critics say, WorldNetDaily sets the conservative fringe agenda."

In the Times article, it was reported that Joseph Farah had asked to hold a session on the birther issue (i.e., is Barack Obama a native-born American citizen?) at the Conservative Political Action Conference, and told they did not have time for it given more important issues. "GOP strategist Jon Henke began a campaign against WorldNetDaily, which has published numerous articles giving credence to the birthplace issue and other allegations against the Obama administration. WorldNetDaily is also soliciting signatures and e-mail addresses for a petition calling on "any and all controlling legal authorities in this matter" to examine Obama's birth certificate." Henke, who now calls himself "of the right" rather than conservative, and wants to restructure a more effective Republican Party, writes in his blog, "In the 1960's, William F. Buckley denounced the John Birch Society leadership for being "so far removed from common sense" and later said "We cannot allow the emblem of irresponsibility to attach to the conservative banner. The Birthers are the Birchers of our time, and WorldNetDaily is their pamphlet."

Book publications

Its WND Books subsidiary published the book, Muslim Mafia: Inside the Secret Underworld That's Conspiring to Islamize America. This was cited by Rep. Sue Myrick (R-NC) and three other Republicans as evidence of infiltration of Congress by Muslim groups, often sponsored by the Council on American Islamic Relations. MediaMatters called this consistent with the organization's tendency to stress conspiracy theories.

North American Union

For several years, WorldNetDaily has reported on an alleged plan to combine the United States, Mexico, and Canada into a North American Union. Reports said the plan had been created by the Council on Foreign Relations, and accepted by Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, as an evolution of NAFTA.

It is widely considered a conspiracy theory, including by the conservative journal, Human Events. There is a 2005 CFR report called "Building A North American Community," which calls for improving security between the borders, steps to grow the American economy, and improving trade, not any kind of merger.