Joseph Francis Farah (born July 6, 1954) is an American author, journalist and editor-in-chief of the

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

website ''

WorldNetDaily ''WND'' (formerly ''WorldNetDaily'') is an American far-right fake news website. It is known for promoting falsehoods and conspiracy theories, including the false claim that former President Barack Obama was not born in the United States. Th ...

'' ''(WND)''.

Early years

Farah was born in

Paterson, New Jersey Paterson ( ) is the largest City (New Jersey), city in and the county seat of Passaic County, New Jersey, Passaic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

n and Lebanese ancestry. His father was a schoolteacher. He graduated from

William Paterson University William Paterson University, officially William Paterson University of New Jersey (WPUNJ), is a public university in Wayne, New Jersey. It is part of New Jersey's public system of higher education. Founded in 1855 and was named after American ju ...

, in

Wayne, New Jersey Wayne is a Township (New Jersey), township in Passaic County, New Jersey, Passaic County, New Jersey, United States. Home to William Paterson University and located less than from Midtown Manhattan, the township is a bedroom suburb of New York ...

with a B.A. in Communications.

Career

Farah worked for six years as executive news editor at the ''

Los Angeles Herald Examiner The ''Los Angeles Herald Examiner'' was a major Los Angeles daily newspaper, published in the afternoon from Monday to Friday and in the morning on Saturdays and Sundays. It was part of the Hearst syndicate. It was formed when the afternoon ' ...

'' until the paper shuttered in 1989. On July 22, 1990, Farah became editor of ''

The Sacramento Union ''The Sacramento Union'' was a daily newspaper founded in 1851 in Sacramento, California. It was the oldest daily newspaper west of the Mississippi River before it closed its doors after 143 years in January 1994, no longer able to compete with ' ...

''. The paper had been losing up to $3 million annually, and in early 1990 it was purchased from

Richard Mellon Scaife Richard Mellon Scaife (; July 3, 1932 – July 4, 2014) was an American billionaire, a principal heir to the Mellon banking, oil, and aluminum fortune, and the owner and publisher of the ''Pittsburgh Tribune-Review''. In 2005, Scaife was n ...

by Daniel Benvenuti Jr. and David Kassis. Farah and the paper's owners envisioned the paper as a conservative alternative to ''

The Sacramento Bee ''The Sacramento Bee'' is a daily newspaper published in Sacramento, California, in the United States. Since its foundation in 1857, ''The Bee'' has become the largest newspaper in Sacramento, the fifth largest newspaper in California, and the 2 ...

''. "We just thought the way to go was to be unabashedly conservative in our approach," explained Farah to ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

''. Among other things, Farah convinced

Rush Limbaugh Rush Hudson Limbaugh III ( ; January 12, 1951 – February 17, 2021) was an American conservative political commentator who was the host of '' The Rush Limbaugh Show'', which first aired in 1984 and was nationally syndicated on AM and FM r ...

to write a daily column, which ran on "Page 1." Farah prohibited advertisement for films rated NC-17 in the newspaper. In 1991, Farah left the ''Union'' and co-founded the

Western Journalism Center The Western Journalism Center (also called the Western Center for Journalism) was founded in 1991 by Joseph Farah and James H. Smith. Based in Sacramento, California. The center produces a conservative newsletter. Projects The Center helped fund ...

. He writes a weekly print column for ''

The Jerusalem Post ''The Jerusalem Post'' is a broadsheet newspaper based in Jerusalem, founded in 1932 during the British Mandate of Palestine by Gershon Agron as ''The Palestine Post''. In 1950, it changed its name to ''The Jerusalem Post''. In 2004, the paper w ...

'' which is nationally syndicated through

Creators Syndicate Creators Syndicate (also known as Creators) is an American independent distributor of comic strips and syndicated columns to daily newspapers, websites, and other digital outlets. When founded in 1987, Creators Syndicate became one of the few suc ...

. He launched the online ''

'' in 1997. The website has been categorized as

far-right Far-right politics, also referred to as the extreme right or right-wing extremism, are political beliefs and actions further to the right of the left–right political spectrum than the standard political right, particularly in terms of being ...

and is known for publishing unreliable or

fringe Fringe may refer to: Arts * Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the world's largest arts festival, known as "the Fringe" * Adelaide Fringe, the world's second-largest annual arts festival * Fringe theatre, a name for alternative theatre * The Fringe, the ...

material. In April 2019, ''WorldNetDaily'' announced that Farah had suffered a stroke and would withdraw from the website's day-to-day operations until he recovers. Farah eventually resumed regular commentaries in late November 2020.

Promotion of conspiracy theories

Farah gained prominence for promoting conspiracy theories surrounding the

suicide of Vince Foster Deputy White House counsel Vince Foster was found dead in Fort Marcy Park off the George Washington Parkway in Virginia, outside Washington, D.C., on July 20, 1993. His death was ruled a suicide by five official investigations. Suicide and inves ...

. Farah is a proponent of

birtherism During Barack Obama's Barack Obama 2008 presidential campaign, campaign for president in 2008 United States presidential election, 2008, throughout Presidency of Barack Obama, his presidency and afterwards, there was extensive news coverage ...

, the conspiracy theory related to

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

's status as a

natural-born citizen of the United States A natural-born-citizen clause, if present in the constitution of a country, requires that its president or vice president be a natural born citizen. The constitutions of a number of countries contain such a clause, but there is no universally ac ...

and resultant eligibility to serve as U.S. president, stating, "It'll plague Obama throughout his presidency. It'll be a nagging issue and a sore on his administration, much like

Monica Lewinsky Monica Samille Lewinsky (born July 23, 1973) is an American activist and writer. President Bill Clinton admitted to having an affair with Lewinsky while she worked at the White House as an intern in 1995 and 1996. The affair, and its repercus ...

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." Despite the release of Obama's

notarized A notary is a person authorised to perform acts in legal affairs, in particular witnessing signatures on documents. The form that the notarial profession takes varies with local legal systems. A notary, while a legal professional, is disti ...

birth certificate abstract, he continued to promote birtherism.

Personal life

He is married to Elizabeth Graham and is a

evangelical Christian Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being " born again", in which an individual exper ...

. He has five children, including a daughter from a previous marriage to Judy Smagula,

Alyssa Farah Griffin Alyssa Farah Griffin (born June 15, 1989) is an American political strategist and television personality. She was the White House Director of Strategic Communications and Assistant to the President in 2020 during the presidency of Donald Trump. ...

, who served as the Press Secretary for Vice President

Mike Pence Michael Richard Pence (born June 7, 1959) is an American politician who served as the 48th vice president of the United States from 2017 to 2021 under President Donald Trump. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as the 50th ...

and later served as Deputy Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Media Affairs and Press Secretary for the

Department of Defense Department of Defence or Department of Defense may refer to: Current departments of defence * Department of Defence (Australia) * Department of National Defence (Canada) * Department of Defence (Ireland) * Department of National Defense (Philipp ...

Books

* Collaborated with Rush Limbaugh on ''See, I Told You So'' (1994) * * * * *

References

External links

WorldNetDaily
Official website

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Farah, Joseph 1954 births American evangelicals New Jersey Republicans American newspaper editors American people of Lebanese descent American people of Syrian descent American political writers American conspiracy theorists American critics of Islam Lebanese evangelicals Living people Writers from Paterson, New Jersey Syrian Protestants 20th-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century American male writers American male non-fiction writers 21st-century American male writers