BETWEEN THE LINES

THREAT TO INDEPENDENT MEDIA WORSE THAN YOU KNOW

Exclusive: Joseph Farah calls Digital Cartel's action 'a war of extermination'

I feel like the prophet Jeremiah. He was always the prophet I did not want to be when I grew up. He not only was the bearer of bad news to Israel, but he did not exactly live a mostly comfortable life – like Ezekiel and Daniel.

But it’s been my misfortune to raise alarms about the devastating attacks by the Digital Cartel – Google-Facebook – on the independent media. They’ve been going on for a long time to be sure. 

But the scorched-earth policy began last summer – and it’s been killing sites like WND, Breitbart, Daily Caller, et al.

Just this week, for instance, Politico published a story almost gleefully reporting that my friends at Breitbart.com have lost half their traffic and even more advertising during this siege by the politically motivated giants of the internet. 

Even if the reports are exaggerated, we’re talking about an imminent, existential threat to the biggest of the big independent media sites.

Where does that leave WND, the oldest, the pioneer, the grandaddy of all independent media?

This war on us is not going away. We’re all in the same boat – and Google-Facebook are shooting holes in it. It’s a massive power play that not only threatens the independent media that were so important as a reality check in the 2016 presidential election but is crippling us in the critical 2018 election battle for control of Congress.

But it’s even bigger than that, I’m afraid. 

I honestly believe that this fight, at the end of the day, will determine whether or not freedom of speech on the internet will survive. 

I think the independent media are just the lab rats in a grand and gruesome experiment for total control of thought by the left. 

If the lab rats die, it will be on to stifling other voices through intimidation and humiliation.

I can only speak for WND when I say the hour is late and the threat is large.

While the WND loyalists have come through with unprecedented financial support since January, we are far from out of the woods because the attacks keep coming. 

The enemy is rich, powerful and ruthless. 

You cannot appeal to their “good nature.”

It’s a war of extermination – not just of the independent media, but free speech as we have known it in America.

Those on the left may not own the White House today, but they own every other cultural and political institution in America – 

and they’re going in for the kill, total control. 

They already own the means of distribution of news and information, and they are preparing to lock it up and seal it tight.

Just so you understand, they are using their powerful search engines to deny us traffic and their hammerlock control of advertising to deny us revenue. 

It’s a powerful combination. And what’s happening now is worse than it’s ever been in my 20-plus years in this business.

Where does all this lead? 

It leads to me urgently reminding you that without your sacrificial support now, we – not just WND, but all the voices of dissent and truth – could soon be stifled, permanently.

Please come to our rescue. Try to imagine a world devoid of alternative voices.

I’m one of those guys who gets news tips every day from people who reveal corruption, fraud, waste and abuse in our country, evil-doings that curl your hair, sinister political and cultural oppression – and they all end something like this: 

“Please don’t use my name because I fear for my job and my safety.”

Help us continue to report the unvarnished truth every day.

You can support us by making your most generous financial contributions, but don’t worry about the amount. Hundreds of thousands of people like you are getting this plea. If only 10 percent responded with contributions of $3 a month, it would result in revenue that would allow us to expand our work, not just keep our doors open and the lights on.

Can you do that?

Can you afford to do more?

I thank you for taking this plea seriously. The situation is dire. And the hour is late.

http://www.wnd.com/2018/03/threat-to-independent-media-worse-than-you-know/