Let’s start at the beginning.
My story has been told in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the L.A. Times, PBS, the Daily Beast, the Huffington Post, the Sacramento Bee and many other “publications of record.”
Don’t believe any of it.
I’m going to tell you my true story – the good, the bad and the ugly.
I grew up as part of a wonderful, working-class family of five people, headed by my parents, John Farah and Loretta Farah, now deceased. I had two loving siblings, John Farah and Loretta Farah DeSopo, both very much alive and well. I was little Joey – the youngest offspring. It was a happy family in sometimes turbulent times.
I always wanted to be a journalist. It started for me in college when I was a naïve, left-wing radical who had even flirted with the Weather Underground. Watergate was in the news. The Vietnam War was coming to a tragic, chaotic end. Revolution was in the air through the 1960s and ’70s.
My training came in journalism classes and at the school newspaper, the William Paterson College Beacon. I soon became editor. We had plenty of communist professors to coach us. Can you imagine how many there are now? It was 1973-1977! After graduation, my first jobs were in local newspapers, including my hometown favorite, the Paterson News. I rose through the ranks and soon was ready for a bigger newspaper in a bigger market: the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, the third-largest paper in circulation in the largest state – a Hearst publication. It was 1979.
In 1980, there was a new “threat” to my radical ideas – Ronald Reagan was running for president.
I decided I would really research this guy. I decided to read everything he read. That was a life-changing endeavor. I read Human Events, National Review, his books, his writings. What did I find? Were they dangerous right-wing notions? No, they made simple sense. They were pro-American, coherent – the same notions our Founding Fathers believed were critical to the well-being of our nation.
I didn’t actually come around quickly enough to contribute to the Gipper’s stunning victory over Jimmy Carter – at the time one of the largest ever, even winning California. But I did soon after become a lifelong fan.
Yes, it was Ronald Reagan who made me a believer in several ways. I even became a believer in Jesus.
Even back then, it was very uncomfortable to work in the major media as a conservative, Bible-believing Christian. In fact, I was completely isolated in the Los Angeles newsroom; as I looked around at my colleagues, I realized I was alone. No joke! Yet I continued rising at the L.A. Herald-Examiner because of my strong work ethic. I stayed for almost 10 years and became executive news editor at the age of 27. It was time for a new challenge professionally, so I took a position in 1989 as the editor-in-chief of the Glendale News-Press with an eye on the Sacramento Union, the state’s conservative paper, the oldest in California.
The next year, the Union recruited me. It made logical sense for a conservative paper to have a conservative editor, didn’t it? What would a conservative editor do? First thing I did was get Rush Limbaugh to write a column! I didn’t know Rush in 1990, when he was starting out like a house afire. So I cold-called him and asked him to write exclusively for the Sacramento Union – a paper he always liked and wanted to write for. They wouldn’t think of it before, when he lived and worked there, he told me. But he said he would be happy to do it. It was a great conversation, so I decided to push my luck. I asked him to write DAILY! I told him how we could do it – easily. His column would appear on the FRONT PAGE!
Rush surprised and delighted me by accepting. I pushed again and asked if he would record a commercial for me that we would run on the market’s flamethrower of a radio station – KFBK. Again, he said yes! Imagine a script something like this from Rush: “My friends, you know how biased the media are. But in Sacramento you have a choice – the Sacramento Union. You know who you’ll find there? ME – every day – on the front page!”
Suddenly, our circulation lines were ringing off the hook. Thanks to a hometown hero who literally owned the market, our subscriptions were red-hot! People called in from all over Northern California where KFBK was heard – not just Sacramento. If we could have delivered the paper to everyone who wanted it, the paper would have been published for 100 years! But that, alas, was before the Internet – and Google, Facebook and the rest of Big Tech.
I left the Union after an unsuccessful bid to buy it, and then accepted Rush’s offer to write his second bestselling book, “See, I Told You So.” How big was it? It sold 4 million copies in the first month! The fastest-selling book ever – except, of course, for the Bible.
Then in 1997 it was time for WND to launch. I had a lot to learn about the internet. My wife had even more to learn: html, the “foreign language” necessary for anyone to produce a website at that time. It was Matt Drudge and me at that time, after he politely turned down a plan to work with me for $60,000 a year.
To say WND was a hit from the start, and for at least the first 20 years, would be an understatement.
And then, GOOGLE BECAME A MONSTER – along with Facebook and the rest of Big Tech. I’ve already told enough of the story about that – even obsessing over it, crying over it, nearly giving up hope over it.
But I will never give up hope. Even a series of five strokes could not get me to quit. Although WND was forced to contract from a high of $15 million in revenue a year to about $1 million now – due to being utterly demonetized in a multitude of ways by the far-Left Internet Cartel and reduced to basically running on fumes – we’re still here and our veteran news team is more dedicated and motivated than ever.
You might wonder why Big Tech decided to go after us. Two words: DONALD TRUMP! It started in 2016 when Trump ran for president. The attacks started gradually, but I could see what was happening. The site was trashed, called racist, demeaned, suppressed and continually defamed. At first I believed I could handle it, but soon I was overwhelmed by it.
Although we have, by the grace of God, managed to survive, Google and the rest of Big Tech still are out to destroy us. After all, we’re “fake news” in their upside-down bizarro world, unlike “real news” CNN or the Daily Beast. But I’ll let you in on a dirty little secret: Google, one of the largest mega-corporations in the history of the world, REWARDS the “good behavior” of the fake press, which is to say, when the media mindlessly advance the Marxist narratives being pushed by the lunatics currently leading America’s government. That’s how Big Tech controls the media – completely! Not just by crushing truth-telling media like WND, but by rewarding the servile propagandists that advance their favored narratives, however false, idiotic and destructive.
It’s as though America had a coup and ditched the First Amendment.
I’m running out of space and having too much fun … so let me wrap this up.
As far as my personal story, the bottom line is, I’m a sinner forgiven by the greatest Mediator ever – the heavenly Jesus-Yeshua.
That’s me – in a nutshell, so to speak. In fact, that’s our whole team.
If you love WND for what it does, there’s a way for anyone in these hard times, these increasingly evil times, to help us, even if you don’t have two plug nickels to rub together.
Here’s how.
1. First and foremost, if my plea has resonated with you and you feel moved to help, please consider supporting us and all we do by donating to WND (not tax-deductible). Whether you choose to designate a regular monthly donation or to make a one-time gift, we could really use it right now. You can make contributions for as little as $3 and as much as $5,000 at our online store. You can also mail us a check if you prefer. Just make it out to “WND” and send it to: WND, P.O. Box 100, 580 E Street, Hawthorne, NV 89415-0100.
2. Would you like to make a tax-deductible contribution? You can do so online by supporting our sister organization, the IRS-approved, 501(c)3 nonprofit charity called the WND News Center. Or you can mail us your tax-deductible donation by making your check out to “WND News Center” and mailing it to: WND News Center, P.O. Box 100, 580 E Street, Hawthorne, NV 89415-0100.
3. Even if you cannot afford to make a donation, if you value what we do at WND, we ask you to please sign up for our free WND News Alerts. That way you’ll never miss another big story at WND. At the same time, our email News Alert list generates critical revenue for us. It’s a win-win, and costs you nothing.
4. Subscribe to Whistleblower, WND’s critically acclaimed monthly print (and digital) magazine that focuses a 10,000-watt spotlight on one crucial topic in each issue – a topic absolutely essential to you and your family’s well-being, but either ignored or mangled by the rest of the media.
5. Become a WND Insider and read WND AD-FREE! That’s right: By becoming a WND Insider, you will receive some terrific benefits and special discounts – including an ad-free reading experience!
6. Make a purchase from the WND Superstore, which specializes in unique, insightful, pro-Constitution, patriotic, God-honoring books, films and other products.
7. And then there’s one last thing you can do: Pray for WND, pray for our whole team!
Thank you so much for reading my message. We at WND would love to be here for you for many more years to come. On May 4, we will mark the end of our 25th year of non-stop, 24-7 news coverage, an almost unheard-of feat in the internet world. With your financial help and prayers, we will continue for many, many more years. God bless you for your consideration.
Content created by the WND News Center is available for re-publication without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact [email protected].
SUPPORT TRUTHFUL JOURNALISM. MAKE A DONATION TO THE NONPROFIT WND NEWS CENTER. THANK YOU!
This article was originally published by the WND News Center.
