Western Journalism Center

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The Western Journalism Center, founded in 1991 by Joseph Farah and James H. Smith, who had previously worked together as editor and publisher, respectively, of the Sacramento Union. Based in Sacramento, California, the Center is known for its funding and promotion of conservative causes in the 1990s.[1]

The Center helped fund Christopher W. Ruddy (who later founded NewsMax) to investigate conspiracies surrounding the death of Vincent Foster, which was part of the Arkansas Project.[2] Eventually, "the Center placed some 50 ads reprinting Ruddy's Pittsburgh Tribune-Review stories in the Washington Times, then repackaged the articles as a packet titled "The Ruddy Investigation," which sold for $12." In addition, "Farah also bought full page ads publicizing Ruddy's allegations that appeared in papers including The New York Times, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, and Los Angeles Times" and "the ad campaign brought in over $500,000, half from individual donors-many of whom bought Foster conspiracy materials-and half from foundations, including $100,000 from Carthage." The Carthage Foundation is controlled by Richard Mellon Scaife, whose foundations gave $330,000 to the Center in 1994 and 1995.[3] Later, "WJC circulated a video featuring Ruddy's claims, Unanswered-The Death of Vincent Foster, that was produced by conservative James Davidson, chairman of the National Taxpayers Union (NTU) and co-editor of the Strategic Investment newsletter."

In 1998, the Center sued the IRS claiming it was audited in 1996 for political reasons. The lawsuit was thrown out, with appeals denied. A lower court ruled that the IRS could not be sued on allegations of politically motivated auditing practices, while a federal appeals court ruled that the Center's lawsuit was barred by the statute of limitations.[4]

In 1997, Farah created the news website WorldNetDaily as a division of the Western Journalism Center. In 1999, WorldNetDaily was spun off[5] as a for-profit division of the Center. The Center and Farah own a majority of WorldNetDaily's stock.[6]

In 2004, Smith became publisher of a revived website/magazine version of the Sacramento Union, but was ousted from that position in June 2005.

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Western Journalism Center to sue IRS". WorldNetDaily. Retrieved on November 29, 2005.
  2. ^ "Western Journalism Center - Joseph Farah". Public Eye. Retrieved on November 29, 2005.
  3. ^ "Decades of Contributions to Conservatism". The Washington Post (May 2, 1999). Retrieved on June 29, 2006.
  4. ^ "Journalism group can't sue over 'politically motivated' audit," Associated Press, December 20, 2000
  5. ^ World's 'No. 1 website' goes for-profit
  6. ^ Krepel, Terry (2002-02-19). The 'O' Word. ConWebWatch. Retrieved on 2008-02-02. “So, who owns WorldNetDaily? Joseph Farah is a little reluctant to answer.”

[edit] External links

  • "The Vincent Foster Factory," Columbia Journalism Review, March/April 1996. An examination of the Western Journalism Center's promotion of Christopher W. Ruddy's reporting on the Vincent Foster case.