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

far-right Far-right politics, often termed right-wing extremism, encompasses a range of ideologies that are marked by ultraconservatism, authoritarianism, ultranationalism, and nativism. This political spectrum situates itself on the far end of the ...

website ''

WorldNetDaily WND (formerly WorldNetDaily) is an Radical right (United States), American far-right news and opinion website. It is known for promoting fake news and conspiracy theories, including the false claim that former President Barack Obama Barack Obama ...

'' ''(WND)''. Farah gained prominence for promoting

conspiracy theories A conspiracy theory is an explanation for an event or situation that asserts the existence of a conspiracy (generally by powerful sinister groups, often political in motivation), when other explanations are more probable.Additional sources: * ...

surrounding the suicide of Vince Foster and is a proponent of birtherism, a debunked conspiracy theory that

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

is not a natural-born citizen of the United States.

Early life

Joseph Francis 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. His father was a schoolteacher. He graduated from

William Paterson University William Paterson University, known as WP, officially William Paterson University of New Jersey (WPUNJ), is a public university in Wayne, New Jersey, United States. It is part of New Jersey's public system of higher education. Founded in 1855 an ...

, in

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

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 Corporation, Hearst syndicate. It was formed w ...

'' 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 family, Mellon banking, oil, and aluminum fortune, and the owner and publisher of the ''Pittsburgh Tribune-Review''. In 2005 ...

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'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

''. Among other things, Farah convinced

Rush Limbaugh Rush Hudson Limbaugh III ( ; January 12, 1951 – February 17, 2021) was an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative political commentator who was the host of ''The Rush Limbaugh Show'', which first aired in 1984 and was nati ...

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. He writes a weekly print column for ''

The Jerusalem Post ''The Jerusalem Post'' is an English language, English-language Israeli broadsheet newspaper based in Jerusalem, Israel, founded in 1932 during the Mandate for Palestine, British Mandate of Mandatory Palestine, Palestine by Gershon Agron as ''Th ...

'' 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

and is known for publishing unreliable or

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

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.

Promotion of conspiracy theories

Farah gained prominence for promoting

surrounding the suicide of Vince Foster. Farah is a proponent of birtherism, the conspiracy theory related to

's status as a natural-born citizen of the United States 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. Lewinsky became internationally known in the late 1990s after U.S. President Bill Clinton admitted to having had an affair with her during her days as a White House intern ...

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 distin ...

birth certificate abstract, he continued to promote birtherism. Farah offered a $15,000 award for the release of the certificate, but did not pay the award after its release.

Personal life

He is married to Elizabeth Graham and is a

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

evangelical Christian Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of th ...

. He has five children, including Alyssa Farah Griffin, who served as the Press Secretary for Vice President

Mike Pence Michael Richard Pence (born June 7, 1959) is an American politician and lawyer 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 (United States), Repub ...

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

Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD, or DOD) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government charged with coordinating and supervising the six U.S. armed services: the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, Space Force, ...

Books

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

References

External links

WorldNetDaily
Official website

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