Let’s start at the beginning.
I always wanted to be a journalist. It started for me in college when I was a naïve, left-wing radical who had flirted even with the Weather Underground. Watergate was in the news. The Vietnam War was coming to a tragic, chaotic end. Revolution was in the air.
My training came in journalism classes and at the William Paterson College Beacon, the school newspaper. I soon became editor. We had plenty of communist professors to coach us. Can you imagine how many there are now? This was 1973-1977! After graduation, my first jobs were in local newspapers, including my hometown favorite, the Paterson News. I rose through the ranks quickly. Soon I 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 stuff the Founding Fathers of our nation believed were critical to the wellbeing 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 fan.
Yes, it was Reagan who made me a believer in several ways. I even became a believer in Jesus, praise the Lord!
Back then, it was already very uncomfortable to be in the media as a conservative, Bible-believing Christian. 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 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, and 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. 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. It 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? Rush Limbaugh 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, the subscription scheme was 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 be published for 100 years!
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.
Then in 1997 it was time for WND to launch. I had a lot to learn about the internet first. 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.
To say WND was a hit from the start, and for at least the first 20 years, would be a gross understatement.
And then, GOOGLE BECAME A MONSTER – and Facebook and the rest of Big Tech. I’ve told enough of the story about that – even obsessing about it, crying about it, nearly giving up hope over it.
But that will never happen. Even a series of five strokes could not get me to quit. We here at WND have contracted from a high of $15 million in revenue a year to about $1 million now – completely de-monetized by the Internet Cartel, basically running on fumes.
Why did they decide to go after us? Two words: DONALD TRUMP! It started in 2016 when he ran for president. The attacks started gradually, but I could see what was happening. The site was first trashed, called racist, demeaned and defamed. At first I believed I could handle it, but soon I was overwhelmed by it.
Long story short, if you’re in sympathy with me, and with my intrepid staff, I’d like to ask you at this time for donations and prayer.
First, if you are able to give in these hard times, consider a donation to either WND or our sister charity – the WND News Center, which is a registered 501(c)3nonprofit and tax-deductible. You can also donate directly to WND to help fund our administrative and operations staff, if you’re not going to take the tax deduction. Checks – made out to either “WND” or the “WND News Center” can be mailed to WorldNetDaily.com Inc., 580 E Street, P.O. Box 100, Hawthorne, NV 89415-0100. (Rural address requires address and PO Box.)
Second, pray for me. I’m much better now than when I suffered my strokes. I just couldn’t talk at all then. I am improving little by little, as you can see from my writing. Pray that I can beat this thing and have a full and miraculous recovery, if it is God’s will.
Thank for doing this for me and mostly for our team – I mean that earnestly.
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This article was originally published by the WND News Center.
