Joseph Farah

Joseph Farah
Born Joseph Farah
July 6, 1954 (1954-07-06) (age 57)
Paterson, New Jersey
Occupation Journalist, author
Notable award(s) Washington Times Foundation National Service Award (1996)
Spouse(s) Elizabeth Farah

Joseph Farah (born July 6, 1954) is an American author, journalist and editor-in-chief of the conservative website WorldNetDaily (WND).[1]

Contents

Early years

Farah was born in Paterson, New Jersey, on July 6, 1954, to parents of Syrian and Lebanese ancestry.[2][3] His father was a schoolteacher.[3] He graduated from William Paterson University, in Wayne, New Jersey with a B.A. in Communications.[3] He is married to Elizabeth Farah and is a conservative evangelical Christian.[3]

Career

Farah worked for six years as executive news editor at the Los Angeles Herald Examiner.[4] On July 22, 1990, Farah became editor of the Sacramento Union. The paper had been losing up to $3 million annually, and in early 1990 it was acquired by Daniel Benvenuti, Jr., and David Kassis from Richard Mellon Scaife.[5]

Farah and the paper's owners envisioned the paper as a conservative alternative to the Sacramento Bee.[6] "We just thought the way to go was to be unabashedly conservative in our approach," explained Farah to the Washington Post.[6] Among other things, Farah convinced Rush Limbaugh to write a daily column, which ran on "Page 1."[4]

In 1991, Farah left the Union and co-founded the Western Journalism Center.[7] He launched the online WorldNetDaily in 1997.[8] Farah received the Washington Times Foundation National Service Award, in 1996.[3]

Farah is among those who have promulgated conspiracy theories questioning Barack Obama's status as a natural born citizen of the United States and resultant eligibility to serve as U.S. President,[9][10] stating, "It'll plague Obama throughout his presidency. It'll be a nagging issue and a sore on his administration, much like Monica Lewinsky was on Bill Clinton's presidency" and "It's not going to go away, and it will drive a wedge in an already divided public."[11]

Despite the release of Obama's notarized birth certificate abstract,[12] Farah demanded that Obama release his "long-form" birth certificate, which was subsequently posted on the White House's web site on April 27, 2011.[13][14][15] Farah had previously pledged $15,000 to the hospital where Obama was born upon the release of said document.[16][17] When Obama finally released the long-form birth certificate, he called it "fraudulent."[18]

Books

References

  1. ^ Black, Jane (2001-08-28). "On the Web, Small and Focused Pays Off". Business Week. http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/aug2001/nf20010828_333.htm. Retrieved 2008-12-14. 
  2. ^ "All eyes on Lebanon". WorldNetDaily.com. 2006-08-01. http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=51328. Retrieved 2011-05-06. 
  3. ^ a b c d e f Stephen Goode (2003-03-04). "Putting faith in the founding fathers: WorldNetDaily.com cofounder Joseph Farah challenges all Americans to take back their country by embracing traditional values and spurning today's MTV culture". Insight magazine. p. 4. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1571/is_6_19/ai_98415816/pg_5?tag=artBody;col1. 
  4. ^ a b William Trombley (1991-05-16). "Paper Chase; Media: The Sacramento Union is Trying to Attract Readers and Advertisers by Billing Itself as 'Pro-American,' 'Pro-Life,' and 'Pro-Business.'". Los Angeles Times. 
  5. ^ Pat Guy (1990-07-13). "New editor for 'Sacramento Union'". USA Today. 
  6. ^ a b Howard Kurtz and Charles Trueheart (1990-10-23). "At Sacramento Union, A Conservative Bent". Washington Post. 
  7. ^ Dorothy Giobbe (1994-09-17). "Western Journalism Center director says it's non-partisan, not pro-right wing". Editor & Publisher. 
  8. ^ Mark O'Keefe (2002-11-24). "Conservative media flex muscles". The Star-Ledger (Newark). 
  9. ^ Ben Smith (Feb. 25, 2009). "Shelby says he has no doubts on Obama citizenship". Politico. http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0209/Shelby_says_he_has_no_doubts_on_Obama_citizenship.html. 
  10. ^ "In NH, Trump takes credit for Obama birth info". The Associated Press. April 27, 2011. http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iHz1PLxZ082lUPdDor6ZuFHkB3WQ?docId=c26234ce934b45738ec3620a14927950. 
  11. ^ Tim Jones (2008-12-08). "Court won't review Obama's eligibility to serve". Hartford Courant. http://www.courant.com/topic/chi-obama-birth-certificate1dec08,0,4658002.story?track=rss-topicgallery. Retrieved 2009-03-12. 
  12. ^ "Born in the U.S.A". FactCheck.org. http://factcheck.org/2008/08/born-in-the-usa/. 
  13. ^ Joseph Farah (2008-11-26). "Where was Obama born?". World Net Daily. http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=81964. Retrieved 2009-03-12. 
  14. ^ Joseph Farah (2008-11-21). "Obama's state secret: His birth certificate!". World Net Daily. http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=81581. Retrieved 2009-03-12. 
  15. ^ Dan Pfeiffer. "President Obama's Long Form Birth Certificate". The White House Blog. http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2011/04/27/president-obamas-long-form-birth-certificate. 
  16. ^ "$10,000, no $15,000 for proof of Obama's birth hospital". WND. 2009-01-09. http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=121395. 
  17. ^ Justin Elliott (2011-04-27). "Joseph Farah owes $15,000 to Kapi'olani Medical Center". Salon. http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/04/27/farah_birth_hospital. 
  18. ^ http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=98546

External links