Assist “News” and Gospel For Asia: Updated
For many years I’ve been a subscriber to Dan Woodings Assist News Service.
Loosely associated with Calvary Chapel, the donor supported subscription service sends out news reports on the persecuted church as well as puff pieces on “Christian” celebrities.
Wooding also has a program on Calvary’s KWVE radio in Southern California and a television program on hischannel.com
He describes himself as a “journalist”…and that’s where the problem begins.
The service has been sending out “news releases” from Gospel For Asia that look more like paid advertisements.
There have been no stories about the myriad controversies surrounding the charity.
No, not one.
I have sent numerous emails to Assist via the “contact me” feature of their website asking if these are paid releases and if so why they are not labeled as such.
This is the latest;
“This is the last of multiple emails I’ve sent inquiring about your relationship with GFA.
I will be running an article on this matter and would like a statement.
The question is this.
Why are you running paid stories as “news” in the light of the fraud and abuse allegations surrounding this organization?
I hope to hear from you soon as to how you justify potentially defrauding your readers.”
Crickets…there has been no response to any of my inquiries.
I do not know if Wooding is paid to post these missives or not.
I do know that (allegedly) there is no way of knowing where money sent to GFA goes.
I do know it’s not journalism to post these pieces without posting coverage of the controversy.
If the allegations against Gospel For Asia are proven true, Wooding is giving his readers just enough information to get robbed.
In these days when it’s so hard to determine what is really “news”, Christians should expect better.
Update: The former head of GFA communications has affirmed that Wooding is paid to post these “reports”.
Dan Wooding has been a paid CC shrill for many a moon now…
No, it’s not “news” when its bought and paid for!
Just curious if you can clarify what makes Wooding “loosely associated” with Calvary Chapel? That seems to be right there in the headline and certainly comment #1 jumped all over it. I’ve spent 10 minutes looking at everything I can find about this guy and his background, ministry and don’t see one link to anything CC.
Is it buying time on KWVE?
It is a sincere question and I commend you for the questions you are asking of them (him) as to GFA.
The Christians should expect better comment, reminded me of this:
http://babylonbee.com/news/christian-post-completes-transition-to-ad-only-website/
Good for a chuckle.
Steve,
I was careful with my words for a reason.
There is the KWVE and his channel connection, but for years when Chuck Smith was alive there was always a lot of CC related material on Assist.
Smith also wrote the forward to one of his books
Wooding also was a co host on Pastors Perspective for a season.
He also has Brian Nixon as an occasional writer…who is (or at least was) on staff at Calvary Albuquerque.
Thus…’loosely” connected.
Thank you.
The funny thing is I worked in Lake Forest for years (my insurance job 1992-2013) and of course went to CCCM until 2001…I vaguely recognize the last name but might be thinking of another Wooding. Shows how out of touch I am with this stuff….
The KWVE and hischannel connections are significant.
My guess is they wouldn’t carry “Calvin’s Corner” even if we could afford it…
The GFA related tweets are pretty funny. If you search Twitter for #gospelforasia you will see many fake accounts posting positive stories. This is what $70,000 of donor money gets you with a reputation management company.
Jim,
I’m surprised that story hasn’t gotten more traction.
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/warrenthrockmorton/2016/03/10/gospel-for-asias-christian-astroturf/
Wow, Dan Wooding has moved up in the world. I remember him reporting on our little missionary group in Israel, back in 2000. All I knew about him is that he was a website with “Christian news”. And most of his stories at that time were about Calvary Chapels. Not surprised that he’s giving Gospel for Asia a gentle massage. He never seemed even back in 2000 that he wanted to do anything except talk about how wonderful everybody’s ministry is. If he has changed in that regard, then I stand corrected. But the “reporting” back then was little more than talking about how wonderful everybody was.
Jess,
You have summed up most of his articles… 🙂
I’d never heard of this guy or his site and having a background in newspaper work, I decided to go look. It’s interesting that the bottom left sidebar is dedicated to all the many wonderful people that Dan Wooding has met/written stories about/whatever.
He even has a picture of Saeed and Naghmeh. So I guess he gets around.
But, when a man spends so much time promoting himself on what is supposed to be a business type site, he loses credibility in my eyes.
Update: The former head of GFA communications has affirmed that Wooding is paid to post these “reports”.
Need I say more?!?
Got to this story via Kevin’s post today (missed it the first time around). Yes, Wooding is paid to send out these stories, like a news wire service (GFA sends the content, Wooding sends it out to his list). I know this firsthand. Wooding is considered a “friend” of GFA (he is one of the few people left on GFA.org’s Endorsements page: http://www.gfa.org/church/endorsements/) but I also know that GFA pays him for his services.