The Washington Times
Encyclopedia
The Washington Times is a daily broadsheet
newspaper
published in Washington, D.C.
, the capital of the United States
. It was founded in 1982 by Unification Church
founder Sun Myung Moon
, and until 2010 was owned by News World Communications
, an international media conglomerate associated with the church. The Times is known for presenting socially and politically conservative views.
, an international media conglomerate associated with the Unification Church
which also owns newspapers in South Korea
, Japan
, and South America
, as well as the news agency
United Press International
. Bo Hi Pak
, the chief aide of church founder and leader Sun Myung Moon
, was the founding president and the founding chairman of the board. Moon asked Richard L. Rubenstein, a rabbi and college professor who had written on the Holocaust, to serve on the board of directors.
At the time of founding of the Times Washington had only one major newspaper, the Washington Post. Massimo Introvigne
, in his 2000 book The Unification Church, said that the Post had been "the most anti-Unificationist paper in the United States." In 2002, at an event held to celebrate the Times 20th anniversary, Moon said: "The Washington Times is responsible to let the American people know about God" and "The Washington Times will become the instrument in spreading the truth about God to the world."
The Times was founded the year after the Washington Star
, the previous "second paper" of D.C., went out of business, after operating for over 100 years. A large percentage of the staff came from the Washington Star. When the Times began, it was unusual among American broadsheet
s in publishing a full color front page, along with full color front pages in all its sections and color elements throughout. Although USA Today
used color in the same way, it took several years for the Washington Post, New York Times and others to do the same. The Times originally published its editorials and opinion columns in a physically separate "Commentary" section, rather than at the end of its front news section as is common practice in U.S. newspapers. It ran television commercials highlighting this fact. Later, this practice was abandoned (except on Sundays, when many other newspapers, including the Post, also do it). The Washington Times also used ink that it advertised as being less likely to come off on the reader's hands than the Posts. This design and its editorial content attracted "real influence" in Washington. When the Times began it had 125 reporters, 25% of them Unification Church members. In 1982 the Post criticized the Times for its negative review of the movie Inchon
, which was also sponsored by the Unification Church.
Former speechwriter for President George W. Bush
David Frum
, in his 2000 book How We Got Here: The '70s, wrote that Moon had granted the Times editorial independence.
But some former employees, including the newspaper's first editor and publisher, James R. Whelan
, have insisted that the paper was under Moon's control from the beginning. Whelan, whose contract guaranteed editorial autonomy, left the paper when the owners refused to renew the contract, asserting that "I have blood on my hands" for helping Moon acquire legitimacy. Three years later editorial page editor William P. Cheshire and four of his staff resigned, charging that, at the explicit direction of Sang Kook Han, a top official of the Unification Church, then-editor Arnaud de Borchgrave had stifled editorial criticism of political repression in South Korea.
The Times was read every day by President Ronald Reagan
during his terms in office. In 1997 he said:
The Times circulation has always been much less than the Washington Post. In 1992 the New York Times reported the Times had only one-eighth the circulation of the Post (100,000 to 800,000) and that two-thirds of its subscribers also subscribed to the Post. In 1994, the Times introduced a weekly national edition, especially targeted to conservative readers nationwide.
In 1997, the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs
(which is critical of United States and Israeli policies), praised the Times (along with The Christian Science Monitor
owned by the Church of Christ, Scientist
), and the Times’ sister publication The Middle East Times
for their objective and informative coverage of Islam and the Middle East
, while criticizing the Times generally pro-Israel editorial policy. The Report suggested that these newspapers, being owned by churches, were less influenced by pro-Israel pressure groups in the United States. In 1998 the Egyptian newspaper Al-Ahram
wrote that the Times editorial policy was "rabidly anti-Arab, anti-Muslim and pro-Israel."
In 2002, the Times published a story accusing the National Educational Association (NEA), the largest teachers' union in the United States, of promoting teaching students that the policies of the United States government were partly to blame for the 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center
. This was denied by the NEA and by other commentators.
In 2002, Post veteran Ben Bradlee said, "I see them get some local stories that I think the Post doesn’t have and should have had." Dante Chinni wrote in the Columbia Journalism Review:
In his 2003 book, Lies (And the Lying Liars Who Tell Them): A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right
, comedian, author, and later senator Al Franken
devoted a chapter to criticizing the Times after executive editor Wesley Pruden
re-wrote a reporter's story—without the reporter's knowledge—about Franken's performance at a White House
party. According to Franken, the rewrite was made to appear as if Franken had received a negative reception, which he says was not the case.
In 2004 the Washington Post reported dissention between some of the Times staff and ownership over the paper's stance on international issues, including support for the United Nations
.
The Southern Poverty Law Center
in its Spring 2005 report criticized the wife of Times editor Francis "Fran" Coombs for writing articles for white nationalist websites such as the Occidental Quarterly
. In 2006, Max Blumenthal
writing in The Nation
reported that Moon's son Preston Moon was in the process of ousting Coombs because of his racist editorializing. Blumenthal, quoting veteran Times news reporter George Archibald and others, reported that Coombs had made a number of racist and sexist comments, and was in the process of being sued by his colleagues for his remarks. Moon was also reported to be trying to oust editor in chief Wesley Pruden
, who was also said to have far-right leanings including sympathy for the Confederate States of America
, and to recruit a non-extremist person to replace him.
, home delivery of the paper in its local area was made in bright orange plastic bags, with the words, "Brighter. Bolder. The Washington Times" and a slogan that changes. Two of the slogans are "The voice and choice of discerning readers" and "You're not getting it all without us".
In 2009, the Manila Times
criticized the Times for an editorial which it said interfered with the political process in the Philippines, while the New York Times criticized it for an editorial linking proposed health care reforms in the United States to policies of Nazi Germany.
In January 2008, editor-in-chief Wesley Pruden
retired and John F. Solomon began work as executive editor of the Times. Solomon is known for his work as an investigative journalist for the Associated Press
and the Washington Post, and was most recently head of investigative reporting and mixed media development at the Post. Within a month the Times changed some of its style guide
to conform more to mainstream media usage. The Times announced that it would no longer use words like "illegal aliens" and "homosexual," and in most cases opt for "more neutral terminology" like "illegal immigrants" and "gay," respectively. The paper also decided to stop using "Hillary" when referring to Senator Hillary Clinton, and the word "marriage" in the expression "gay marriage" will no longer appear in quotes in the newspaper. These changes in policy drew criticism from some conservatives. Prospect
magazine attributed the Times apparent move to the center to differences of opinion over the United Nations
and North Korea
, and said: "The Republican right may be losing its most devoted media ally."
On November 30, 2009 the New York Times reported that the Washington Times would no longer be receiving funds from the Unification Church and might have to cease publication or go to online publication only. In December 2009 the Times announced it would lay off 40% of its 370 employees and stop subscription service, instead distributing the paper free in some areas of Washington including branches of the government. The Times said that it would focus on its "core strengths," which it identified as "exclusive reporting and in-depth national political coverage, enterprise and investigative reporting, geo-strategic and national security news and cultural coverage based on traditional values
." A subscription website owned by the paper, theconservatives.com, continued, as did the Times three-hour radio program, “America’s Morning News.” Later that month the Times announced that it would cease publication of its Sunday edition, along with other changes partly in order to end its reliance on subsidies from the Unification Church ownership. On December 31, 2009 it announced that it would end its coverage of sports.
In July 2010 international leaders of the Unification Church issued a letter protesting the direction the Times was taking and urging closer ties between it and the church. In August 2010, a deal was made to sell the Times to a group more closely related to the church. Editor-in-chief Sam Dealey
said that this was a welcome development among the Times staff. On November 2, 2010, Moon and a group of former Washington Times editors purchased the paper from Moon's son, Preston Moon, for $1. This ended a stalemate that had been threatening to shut down the paper completely. In March 2011 the Times announced that some former staffers would be rehired and that the paper would bring back its sports, metro and life sections. In June 2011 Ed Kelley, formerly of The Oklahoman
, was hired as editor overseeing both news and opinion content.
reported that a billion dollars had been spent since the paper's inception, as Moon himself had noted in a 1991 speech, "Literally nine hundred million to one billion dollars has been spent to activate and run the Washington Times". In 2002, Columbia Journalism Review
suggested Moon had spent nearly $2 billion on the Times. In 2008, Thomas F. Roeser of the Chicago Daily Observer mentioned competition from the Times as a factor moving the Washington Post to the right, and said that Moon had "announced he will spend as many future billions as is needed to keep the paper competitive."
The political views of The Washington Times are often described as conservative. The Washington Post reported: "the Times was established by Moon to combat communism
and be a conservative alternative to what he perceived as the liberal bias of The Washington Post." In 1994 Reed Irvine
, chairman of Accuracy in Media
, a media watchdog group, said: "The Washington Times is one of the few newspapers in the country that provides some balance."
Commentator Paul Weyrich
has called the Times an antidote to its liberal competitor:
The Washington Post became very arrogant and they just decided that they would determine what was news and what wasn't news and they wouldn't cover a lot of things that went on. And the Washington Times has forced the Post to cover a lot of things that they wouldn't cover if the Times wasn't in existence.
In 1999 the Times was criticized by the Daily Howler for misquoting vice-president Al Gore
. In 2000 the Howler criticized the Times again, this time for making unsubstantiated allegations about Gore's campaign fundraising. In 2004 the Howler criticized a Times front page story which made fun of Democratic Party presidential candidate John Kerry
's vacationing in France.
Conservative-turned-liberal writer David Brock
, who worked for the Times sister publication Insight on the News, said in his 2002 book Blinded by the Right
that the news writers at the Times were encouraged and rewarded for giving news stories a conservative slant. In his 2004 book The Republican Noise Machine
, Brock wrote "the Washington Times was governed by a calculatedly unfair political bias
" and that its journalistic ethics were "close to nil."
In 2007, Mother Jones
said that the Times had become "essential reading for political news junkies" soon after its founding, and quoted James Gavin, special assistant to Bo Hi Pak:
In a 2008 essay published in Harper's Magazine
, historian Thomas Frank
linked the Times to the modern American conservative movement, saying:
In 2009 the New York Times reported:
The Times has generally opposed gay
and transgender
rights. In 2010, the Times published an editorial opposing the Employment Non-Discrimination Act
because it granted legal protective status for transgender people. The editorial criticized transgender people and said that gender identity
can be a choice, not an innate characteristic.
Opinion
Sports
Computers
Metro
Former
Broadsheet
Broadsheet is the largest of the various newspaper formats and is characterized by long vertical pages . The term derives from types of popular prints usually just of a single sheet, sold on the streets and containing various types of material, from ballads to political satire. The first broadsheet...
newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
published in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, the capital of the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. It was founded in 1982 by Unification Church
Unification Church
The Unification Church is a new religious movement founded by Korean religious leader Sun Myung Moon. In 1954, the Unification Church was formally and legally established in Seoul, South Korea, as The Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity . In 1994, Moon gave the church...
founder Sun Myung Moon
Sun Myung Moon
Sun Myung Moon is the Korean founder and leader of the worldwide Unification Church. He is also the founder of many other organizations and projects...
, and until 2010 was owned by News World Communications
News World Communications
News World Communications, Inc., is an international news media corporation. It was founded in New York City, in 1976, by Unification Church founder and leader, Sun Myung Moon. Its first two newspapers, The News World and the Spanish-language Noticias del Mundo, were published in New York from...
, an international media conglomerate associated with the church. The Times is known for presenting socially and politically conservative views.
History
The Washington Times was founded in 1982 by News World CommunicationsNews World Communications
News World Communications, Inc., is an international news media corporation. It was founded in New York City, in 1976, by Unification Church founder and leader, Sun Myung Moon. Its first two newspapers, The News World and the Spanish-language Noticias del Mundo, were published in New York from...
, an international media conglomerate associated with the Unification Church
Unification Church
The Unification Church is a new religious movement founded by Korean religious leader Sun Myung Moon. In 1954, the Unification Church was formally and legally established in Seoul, South Korea, as The Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity . In 1994, Moon gave the church...
which also owns newspapers in South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, and South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
, as well as the news agency
News agency
A news agency is an organization of journalists established to supply news reports to news organizations: newspapers, magazines, and radio and television broadcasters. Such an agency may also be referred to as a wire service, newswire or news service.-History:The oldest news agency is Agence...
United Press International
United Press International
United Press International is a once-major international news agency, whose newswires, photo, news film and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines and radio and television stations for most of the twentieth century...
. Bo Hi Pak
Bo Hi Pak
Bo Hi Pak is a prominent member of the Unification Church. During the 1970s and 1980s, he was a major leader in the organization, running projects such as newspapers , schools, performing arts projects, political projects such as the anti-communist organization CAUSA International, and was...
, the chief aide of church founder and leader Sun Myung Moon
Sun Myung Moon
Sun Myung Moon is the Korean founder and leader of the worldwide Unification Church. He is also the founder of many other organizations and projects...
, was the founding president and the founding chairman of the board. Moon asked Richard L. Rubenstein, a rabbi and college professor who had written on the Holocaust, to serve on the board of directors.
At the time of founding of the Times Washington had only one major newspaper, the Washington Post. Massimo Introvigne
Massimo Introvigne
Massimo Introvigne is an Italian sociologist and intellectual property consultant. He is the founder and managing director of the Center for Studies on New Religions , an international network of scholars who study new religious movements. Introvigne is the author of tens of books and articles in...
, in his 2000 book The Unification Church, said that the Post had been "the most anti-Unificationist paper in the United States." In 2002, at an event held to celebrate the Times 20th anniversary, Moon said: "The Washington Times is responsible to let the American people know about God" and "The Washington Times will become the instrument in spreading the truth about God to the world."
Washington Star
The Washington Star, previously known as the Washington Star-News and the Washington Evening Star, was a daily afternoon newspaper published in Washington, D.C. between 1852 and 1981. For most of that time, it was the city's newspaper of record, and the longtime home to columnist Mary McGrory and...
, the previous "second paper" of D.C., went out of business, after operating for over 100 years. A large percentage of the staff came from the Washington Star. When the Times began, it was unusual among American broadsheet
Broadsheet
Broadsheet is the largest of the various newspaper formats and is characterized by long vertical pages . The term derives from types of popular prints usually just of a single sheet, sold on the streets and containing various types of material, from ballads to political satire. The first broadsheet...
s in publishing a full color front page, along with full color front pages in all its sections and color elements throughout. Although USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
used color in the same way, it took several years for the Washington Post, New York Times and others to do the same. The Times originally published its editorials and opinion columns in a physically separate "Commentary" section, rather than at the end of its front news section as is common practice in U.S. newspapers. It ran television commercials highlighting this fact. Later, this practice was abandoned (except on Sundays, when many other newspapers, including the Post, also do it). The Washington Times also used ink that it advertised as being less likely to come off on the reader's hands than the Posts. This design and its editorial content attracted "real influence" in Washington. When the Times began it had 125 reporters, 25% of them Unification Church members. In 1982 the Post criticized the Times for its negative review of the movie Inchon
Inchon (film)
Inchon is a 1982 war film about the Battle of Inchon, considered to be the turning point of the Korean War. The film was directed by Terence Young and financed by Unification Church founder Sun Myung Moon. It stars Laurence Olivier as General Douglas MacArthur, who led the United States surprise...
, which was also sponsored by the Unification Church.
Former speechwriter for President George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
David Frum
David Frum
David J. Frum is a Canadian American journalist active in both the United States and Canadian political arenas. A former economic speechwriter for President George W. Bush, he is also the author of the first "insider" book about the Bush presidency...
, in his 2000 book How We Got Here: The '70s, wrote that Moon had granted the Times editorial independence.
But some former employees, including the newspaper's first editor and publisher, James R. Whelan
James R. Whelan
James R. Whelan is a journalist and historian who served as the first editor-in-chief of The Washington Times, holding the position from 1982 to 1984...
, have insisted that the paper was under Moon's control from the beginning. Whelan, whose contract guaranteed editorial autonomy, left the paper when the owners refused to renew the contract, asserting that "I have blood on my hands" for helping Moon acquire legitimacy. Three years later editorial page editor William P. Cheshire and four of his staff resigned, charging that, at the explicit direction of Sang Kook Han, a top official of the Unification Church, then-editor Arnaud de Borchgrave had stifled editorial criticism of political repression in South Korea.
The Times was read every day by President Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
during his terms in office. In 1997 he said:
The American people know the truth. You, my friends at The Washington Times, have told it to them. It wasn't always the popular thing to do. But you were a loud and powerful voice. Like me, you arrived in Washington at the beginning of the most momentous decade of the century. Together, we rolled up our sleeves and got to work. And—oh, yes—we won the Cold WarCold WarThe Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
.
The Times circulation has always been much less than the Washington Post. In 1992 the New York Times reported the Times had only one-eighth the circulation of the Post (100,000 to 800,000) and that two-thirds of its subscribers also subscribed to the Post. In 1994, the Times introduced a weekly national edition, especially targeted to conservative readers nationwide.
In 1997, the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs
Washington Report on Middle East Affairs
The Washington Report on Middle East Affairs magazine, published nine times per year in Washington, D.C., focuses on "news and analysis from and about the Middle East and U.S...
(which is critical of United States and Israeli policies), praised the Times (along with The Christian Science Monitor
The Christian Science Monitor
The Christian Science Monitor is an international newspaper published daily online, Monday to Friday, and weekly in print. It was started in 1908 by Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of the Church of Christ, Scientist. As of 2009, the print circulation was 67,703.The CSM is a newspaper that covers...
owned by the Church of Christ, Scientist
Church of Christ, Scientist
The Church of Christ, Scientist was founded in 1879 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA, by Mary Baker Eddy. She was the author of the book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. Christian Science teaches that the "allness" of God denies the reality of sin, sickness, death, and the material world...
), and the Times’ sister publication The Middle East Times
News World Communications
News World Communications, Inc., is an international news media corporation. It was founded in New York City, in 1976, by Unification Church founder and leader, Sun Myung Moon. Its first two newspapers, The News World and the Spanish-language Noticias del Mundo, were published in New York from...
for their objective and informative coverage of Islam and the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
, while criticizing the Times generally pro-Israel editorial policy. The Report suggested that these newspapers, being owned by churches, were less influenced by pro-Israel pressure groups in the United States. In 1998 the Egyptian newspaper Al-Ahram
Al-Ahram
Al-Ahram , founded in 1875, is the most widely circulating Egyptian daily newspaper, and the second oldest after al-Waqa'i`al-Masriya . It is majority owned by the Egyptian government....
wrote that the Times editorial policy was "rabidly anti-Arab, anti-Muslim and pro-Israel."
In 2002, the Times published a story accusing the National Educational Association (NEA), the largest teachers' union in the United States, of promoting teaching students that the policies of the United States government were partly to blame for the 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center
World Trade Center
The original World Trade Center was a complex with seven buildings featuring landmark twin towers in Lower Manhattan, New York City, United States. The complex opened on April 4, 1973, and was destroyed in 2001 during the September 11 attacks. The site is currently being rebuilt with five new...
. This was denied by the NEA and by other commentators.
In 2002, Post veteran Ben Bradlee said, "I see them get some local stories that I think the Post doesn’t have and should have had." Dante Chinni wrote in the Columbia Journalism Review:
In addition to giving voice to stories that, as PrudenTimes plays an important role in Washington’s journalistic farm system. The paper has been a springboard for young reporters to jobs at The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, even the Post. Lorraine Woellert, who worked at the Times from 1992 to 1998, says her experience there allowed her to jump directly to her current job at Business Week. “I got a lot of opportunities very quickly. They appreciated and rewarded talent and, frankly, there was a lot of turnover.”Wesley PrudenWesley Pruden is an American journalist and author. He was the editor-in-chief of The Washington Times from 1992 until his retirement in 2008.- Education and career :...
says, “others miss,” the
In his 2003 book, Lies (And the Lying Liars Who Tell Them): A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right
Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them
Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them is a satirical book on American politics by comedian, political commentator and now Senator Al Franken, published in 2003 by Dutton, a subsidiary in the Penguin Group. Franken had a study group of 14 Harvard graduate students known as "TeamFranken" to help him...
, comedian, author, and later senator Al Franken
Al Franken
Alan Stuart "Al" Franken is the junior United States Senator from Minnesota. He is a member of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, which affiliates with the national Democratic Party....
devoted a chapter to criticizing the Times after executive editor Wesley Pruden
Wesley Pruden
Wesley Pruden is an American journalist and author. He was the editor-in-chief of The Washington Times from 1992 until his retirement in 2008.- Education and career :...
re-wrote a reporter's story—without the reporter's knowledge—about Franken's performance at a White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
party. According to Franken, the rewrite was made to appear as if Franken had received a negative reception, which he says was not the case.
In 2004 the Washington Post reported dissention between some of the Times staff and ownership over the paper's stance on international issues, including support for the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
.
The Southern Poverty Law Center
Southern Poverty Law Center
The Southern Poverty Law Center is an American nonprofit civil rights organization noted for its legal victories against white supremacist groups; legal representation for victims of hate groups; monitoring of alleged hate groups, militias and extremist organizations; and educational programs that...
in its Spring 2005 report criticized the wife of Times editor Francis "Fran" Coombs for writing articles for white nationalist websites such as the Occidental Quarterly
Occidental Quarterly
The Occidental Quarterly is a journal "devoted to the ethnic,racial, and cultural heritage that forms the foundation of Western Civilization"...
. In 2006, Max Blumenthal
Max Blumenthal
Max Blumenthal is an American author, journalist, and blogger. A senior writer for The Daily Beast, he is the author of the New York Times bestselling book Republican Gomorrah: Inside the Movement that Shattered the Party....
writing in The Nation
The Nation
The Nation is the oldest continuously published weekly magazine in the United States. The periodical, devoted to politics and culture, is self-described as "the flagship of the left." Founded on July 6, 1865, It is published by The Nation Company, L.P., at 33 Irving Place, New York City.The Nation...
reported that Moon's son Preston Moon was in the process of ousting Coombs because of his racist editorializing. Blumenthal, quoting veteran Times news reporter George Archibald and others, reported that Coombs had made a number of racist and sexist comments, and was in the process of being sued by his colleagues for his remarks. Moon was also reported to be trying to oust editor in chief Wesley Pruden
Wesley Pruden
Wesley Pruden is an American journalist and author. He was the editor-in-chief of The Washington Times from 1992 until his retirement in 2008.- Education and career :...
, who was also said to have far-right leanings including sympathy for the Confederate States of America
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...
, and to recruit a non-extremist person to replace him.
, home delivery of the paper in its local area was made in bright orange plastic bags, with the words, "Brighter. Bolder. The Washington Times" and a slogan that changes. Two of the slogans are "The voice and choice of discerning readers" and "You're not getting it all without us".
In 2009, the Manila Times
Manila Times
The Manila Times is the oldest existing English language newspaper in the Philippines. It is published daily by The Manila Times Publishing Corp. with editorial and administrative offices at 371 A...
criticized the Times for an editorial which it said interfered with the political process in the Philippines, while the New York Times criticized it for an editorial linking proposed health care reforms in the United States to policies of Nazi Germany.
In January 2008, editor-in-chief Wesley Pruden
Wesley Pruden
Wesley Pruden is an American journalist and author. He was the editor-in-chief of The Washington Times from 1992 until his retirement in 2008.- Education and career :...
retired and John F. Solomon began work as executive editor of the Times. Solomon is known for his work as an investigative journalist for the Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
and the Washington Post, and was most recently head of investigative reporting and mixed media development at the Post. Within a month the Times changed some of its style guide
Style guide
A style guide or style manual is a set of standards for the writing and design of documents, either for general use or for a specific publication, organization or field...
to conform more to mainstream media usage. The Times announced that it would no longer use words like "illegal aliens" and "homosexual," and in most cases opt for "more neutral terminology" like "illegal immigrants" and "gay," respectively. The paper also decided to stop using "Hillary" when referring to Senator Hillary Clinton, and the word "marriage" in the expression "gay marriage" will no longer appear in quotes in the newspaper. These changes in policy drew criticism from some conservatives. Prospect
Prospect (magazine)
Prospect is a monthly British general interest magazine, specialising in politics and current affairs. Frequent topics include British, European, and US politics, social issues, art, literature, cinema, science, the media, history, philosophy, and psychology...
magazine attributed the Times apparent move to the center to differences of opinion over the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
and North Korea
North Korea
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea , , is a country in East Asia, occupying the northern half of the Korean Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Pyongyang. The Korean Demilitarized Zone serves as the buffer zone between North Korea and South Korea...
, and said: "The Republican right may be losing its most devoted media ally."
On November 30, 2009 the New York Times reported that the Washington Times would no longer be receiving funds from the Unification Church and might have to cease publication or go to online publication only. In December 2009 the Times announced it would lay off 40% of its 370 employees and stop subscription service, instead distributing the paper free in some areas of Washington including branches of the government. The Times said that it would focus on its "core strengths," which it identified as "exclusive reporting and in-depth national political coverage, enterprise and investigative reporting, geo-strategic and national security news and cultural coverage based on traditional values
Traditional values
Traditional values refer to those beliefs, moral codes, and mores that are passed down from generation to generation within a culture, subculture or community.-Summary:Since the late 1970s in the U.S., the term "traditional values" has become synonymous...
." A subscription website owned by the paper, theconservatives.com, continued, as did the Times three-hour radio program, “America’s Morning News.” Later that month the Times announced that it would cease publication of its Sunday edition, along with other changes partly in order to end its reliance on subsidies from the Unification Church ownership. On December 31, 2009 it announced that it would end its coverage of sports.
In July 2010 international leaders of the Unification Church issued a letter protesting the direction the Times was taking and urging closer ties between it and the church. In August 2010, a deal was made to sell the Times to a group more closely related to the church. Editor-in-chief Sam Dealey
Sam Dealey
Sam Dealey is an American foreign correspondent and the former Editor of The Washington Times. He is a media fellow at the Hoover Institution, a board member at the American Spectator, and is a contributing editor for Reader's Digest and U.S. News and World Report...
said that this was a welcome development among the Times staff. On November 2, 2010, Moon and a group of former Washington Times editors purchased the paper from Moon's son, Preston Moon, for $1. This ended a stalemate that had been threatening to shut down the paper completely. In March 2011 the Times announced that some former staffers would be rehired and that the paper would bring back its sports, metro and life sections. In June 2011 Ed Kelley, formerly of The Oklahoman
The Oklahoman
The Oklahoman is the largest daily newspaper in Oklahoma and is the only daily newspaper that covers the entire Oklahoma City area.-Ownership:...
, was hired as editor overseeing both news and opinion content.
Funding
The Washington Times has lost money every year that it has been in business. By 2002, the Unification Church had spent about $1.7 billion subsidizing the Times. In 2003, The New YorkerThe New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
reported that a billion dollars had been spent since the paper's inception, as Moon himself had noted in a 1991 speech, "Literally nine hundred million to one billion dollars has been spent to activate and run the Washington Times". In 2002, Columbia Journalism Review
Columbia Journalism Review
The Columbia Journalism Review is an American magazine for professional journalists published bimonthly by the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism since 1961....
suggested Moon had spent nearly $2 billion on the Times. In 2008, Thomas F. Roeser of the Chicago Daily Observer mentioned competition from the Times as a factor moving the Washington Post to the right, and said that Moon had "announced he will spend as many future billions as is needed to keep the paper competitive."
Political leanings
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
and be a conservative alternative to what he perceived as the liberal bias of The Washington Post." In 1994 Reed Irvine
Reed Irvine
Reed Irvine was an economist who founded the media watchdog organization Accuracy in Media, and remained its head for 35 years....
, chairman of Accuracy in Media
Accuracy in Media
Accuracy In Media is an American, non-profit news media watchdog founded in 1969 by economist Reed Irvine. AIM describes itself as "a non-profit, grassroots citizens watchdog of the news media that critiques botched and bungled news stories and sets the record straight on important issues that...
, a media watchdog group, said: "The Washington Times is one of the few newspapers in the country that provides some balance."
Commentator Paul Weyrich
Paul Weyrich
Paul M. Weyrich was an American conservativepolitical activist and commentator, most notable as a figurehead of the New Right. He co-founded the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank and the Free Congress Foundation, another conservative think tank...
has called the Times an antidote to its liberal competitor:
The Washington Post became very arrogant and they just decided that they would determine what was news and what wasn't news and they wouldn't cover a lot of things that went on. And the Washington Times has forced the Post to cover a lot of things that they wouldn't cover if the Times wasn't in existence.
In 1999 the Times was criticized by the Daily Howler for misquoting vice-president Al Gore
Al Gore
Albert Arnold "Al" Gore, Jr. served as the 45th Vice President of the United States , under President Bill Clinton. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for President in the 2000 U.S. presidential election....
. In 2000 the Howler criticized the Times again, this time for making unsubstantiated allegations about Gore's campaign fundraising. In 2004 the Howler criticized a Times front page story which made fun of Democratic Party presidential candidate John Kerry
John Kerry
John Forbes Kerry is the senior United States Senator from Massachusetts, the 10th most senior U.S. Senator and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He was the presidential nominee of the Democratic Party in the 2004 presidential election, but lost to former President George W...
's vacationing in France.
Conservative-turned-liberal writer David Brock
David Brock
David Brock is an American journalist and author, the founder of the media watchdog group, Media Matters for America, and a Democratic political operative...
, who worked for the Times sister publication Insight on the News, said in his 2002 book Blinded by the Right
Blinded by the Right
Blinded by the Right: The Conscience of an Ex-Conservative is a 2002 book written by former conservative journalist David Brock detailing his departure from the conservative movement. It is also the story of his coming out as a gay man. In the book, he states that he visited gay bars with Matt...
that the news writers at the Times were encouraged and rewarded for giving news stories a conservative slant. In his 2004 book The Republican Noise Machine
The Republican Noise Machine
The Republican Noise Machine is a 2004 book written by David Brock which chronicles the author's opinion of how the American right wing was able to build their media infrastructure...
, Brock wrote "the Washington Times was governed by a calculatedly unfair political bias
Media bias
Media bias refers to the bias of journalists and news producers within the mass media in the selection of events and stories that are reported and how they are covered. The term "media bias" implies a pervasive or widespread bias contravening the standards of journalism, rather than the...
" and that its journalistic ethics were "close to nil."
In 2007, Mother Jones
Mother Jones (magazine)
Mother Jones is an American independent news organization, featuring investigative and breaking news reporting on politics, the environment, human rights, and culture. Mother Jones has been nominated for 23 National Magazine Awards and has won six times, including for General Excellence in 2001,...
said that the Times had become "essential reading for political news junkies" soon after its founding, and quoted James Gavin, special assistant to Bo Hi Pak:
We're trying to combat communism and we're trying to uphold traditional Judeo-Christian values. TheWashington Times is standing up for those values and fighting anything that would tear them down. Causa is doing the same thing, by explaining what the enemy is trying to do.
In a 2008 essay published in Harper's Magazine
Harper's Magazine
Harper's Magazine is a monthly magazine of literature, politics, culture, finance, and the arts, with a generally left-wing perspective. It is the second-oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the U.S. . The current editor is Ellen Rosenbush, who replaced Roger Hodge in January 2010...
, historian Thomas Frank
Thomas Frank
Thomas Frank is an American author, journalist and columnist for Harper's Magazine. He is a former columnist for the Wall Street Journal, authoring "The Tilting Yard" from 2008 to 2010....
linked the Times to the modern American conservative movement, saying:
- There is even a daily newspaper—the
In 2009 the New York Times reported:
With its conservative editorial bent, the paper also became a crucial training ground for many rising conservative journalists and a must-read for those in the movement. A veritable who’s who of conservatives — Tony BlankleyTony BlankleyAnthony “Tony” Blankley is an Executive Vice President with Edelman public relations in Washington, a Visiting Senior Fellow in National-Security Communications at the Heritage Foundation, weekly contributor to the nationally syndicated public radio program Left, Right & Center, author of The...
, Frank J. Gaffney Jr., Larry Kudlow, John PodhoretzJohn PodhoretzJohn Podhoretz is an American neoconservative columnist for the New York Post, the editor of Commentary magazine, the author of several books on politics, and a former presidential speechwriter.-Life and career:...
and Tony SnowTony SnowRobert Anthony "Tony" Snow was an American journalist, political commentator, television news anchor, syndicated columnist, radio host, musician, and the third White House Press Secretary under President George W. Bush. Snow also worked for President George H. W. Bush as chief speechwriter and...
— has churned out copy for its pages.
The Times has generally opposed gay
Homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
and transgender
Transgender
Transgender is a general term applied to a variety of individuals, behaviors, and groups involving tendencies to vary from culturally conventional gender roles....
rights. In 2010, the Times published an editorial opposing the Employment Non-Discrimination Act
Employment Non-Discrimination Act
The Employment Non-Discrimination Act is a proposed bill in the United States Congress that would prohibit discrimination against employees on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity by civilian, nonreligious employers with at least 15 employees.ENDA has been introduced in every...
because it granted legal protective status for transgender people. The editorial criticized transgender people and said that gender identity
Gender identity
A gender identity is the way in which an individual self-identifies with a gender category, for example, as being either a man or a woman, or in some cases being neither, which can be distinct from biological sex. Basic gender identity is usually formed by age three and is extremely difficult to...
can be a choice, not an innate characteristic.
Notable current and former writers
News- George ArchibaldGeorge Archibald (politician)----George Archibald is a former Member of the Legislative Assembly of Nova Scotia, Canada for the constituency of Kings North. He sat as a member of the Progressive Conservative Party of Nova Scotia from 1984 to 1999....
(Congressional, political, United Nations, and education reporter) - Jeffrey H. Birnbaum (Managing editor, WashingtonTimes.com)
- Stephen Dinan (Immigration and political reporter)
- Bill GertzBill GertzBill Gertz is an American editor, columnist and reporter for The Washington Times. He is the author of six books and writes a weekly column on the Pentagon and national security issues called "Inside the Ring". During the administration of Bill Clinton Gertz was known for his stories exposing...
(Defense and foreign policy reporter) - Ralph Z. Hallow (Political reporter)
- Donald LambroDonald LambroDonald Lambro is an Albanian American journalist. He is the chief political correspondent of The Washington Times and a columnist nationally syndicated by United Feature Syndicate....
Political reporter) - John McCaslinJohn McCaslinJohn McCaslin is a broadcaster, author, and public speaker. He currently is co-anchor of America’s Morning News, produced by Talk Radio Network Entertainment...
("Inside the Beltway" columnist) - Jerry Seper (Investigative reporter)
Opinion
- Brett M. Decker
- David Mastio
- Richard Diamond
- James S. RobbinsJames S. RobbinsJames S. Robbins is the award winning Senior Editorial Writer for Foreign Affairs at the Washington Times, an author, political commentator and professor, with an expertise in national security, and foreign and military affairs...
- Frank Perley
- Kerry Picket
- Frank GaffneyFrank GaffneyFrank J. Gaffney, Jr. is the founder and president of the American Center for Security Policy, columnist at the Washington Times, blogger at Big Peace and radio host on Secure Freedom Radio....
- Lawrence KudlowLawrence KudlowLawrence "Larry" Kudlow is an American economist, television personality, and newspaper columnist. He is the host of CNBC's The Kudlow Report. As a syndicated columnist, his articles appear in numerous U.S. newspapers and web sites, including his own blog, Kudlow's Money Politic$.-Early...
- Jeffrey KuhnerJeffrey T. KuhnerJeffrey T Kuhner is a radio host, commentator, and journalist. He is a regular contributor to the commentary pages of The Washington Times, where he writes a weekly column, and has written for Human Events, National Review Online and Investor's Business Daily. He is also the president of the , a...
- Larry MoffittLarry MoffittLarry Moffitt is vice president of The Washington Times Foundation, an independent not-for-profit charitable foundation that works alongside The Washington Times newspaper...
- Steve BradleySteve BradleySteven Richard Bisson was an American professional wrestler who had competed on North American independent promotions throughout the 1990s including East Coast Wrestling Association, IWA Puerto Rico and the National Wrestling Alliance as well as spending over three years in World Wrestling...
Sports
- Dan Daly (columnist)
- Dick Heller (columnist)
- Tom KnottTom KnottTom Knott is a columnist whose byline appears in the Sports and Metro sections of The Washington Times.-Reception by other journalists:Knott's journalism notably attracts critical attention from other journalists...
(columnist) - Thom LoverroThom LoverroThomas F. Loverro , is an American sportswriter. He was voted the Maryland sportswriter of the year in 2009 by the NSSA.-External links:**...
(columnist)
Computers
- Mark KellnerMark KellnerMark Allen Kellner , is a journalist living in Fulton, Maryland. Since 1991, he has written weekly technology columns for The Washington Times, and since 2007, he's served as News Editor for Adventist Review and Adventist World magazines, publications of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.Mark was a...
Metro
- Gary Emerling (D.C. Reporter)
- Adrienne T. Washington (columnist)
- Tom KnottTom KnottTom Knott is a columnist whose byline appears in the Sports and Metro sections of The Washington Times.-Reception by other journalists:Knott's journalism notably attracts critical attention from other journalists...
(columnist) - Fred ReedFred ReedFred Reed is a technology columnist for The Washington Times and the author of Fred on Everything, a weekly independent column. He also writes books and other material. He has also written for The American Conservative and LewRockwell.com...
(police beat, later took on a broader purview)
Former
- David Brooks (journalist)David Brooks (journalist)David Brooks is a Canadian-born political and cultural commentator who considers himself a moderate and writes for the New York Times...
- Dave Fay (deceased)
- Samuel T. Francis (deceased)
- Jeremiah O'LearyJeremiah O'LearyJeremiah O'Leary was an American newspaper reporter and columnist.He grew up in northwest Washington, DC, then served as a U.S. Marine in the Pacific theater during World War II and fought in the invasions of New Britain, Guam and Peleliu...
(deceased) - Rob ReddingRob ReddingRobert "Rob" Redding, Jr. is an American political commentator, independent journalist, artist, author and social entrepreneur. Redding is publisher of Redding News Review and hosts a nationally syndicated talk radio show and podcast.-Background:Redding is the son of Rev...
(journalist and talk host) - Bill SammonBill SammonBill Sammon is Fox News Washington managing editor and a vice president for the network, as well as a published author and newspaper columnist. He previously worked as White House correspondent for the Washington Times and the Washington Examiner before joining Fox News in August 2008.-Personal...
- Rowan ScarboroughRowan ScarboroughRowan Scarborough was formerly a Washington Times reporter for nearly two decades who wrote a weekly column with fellow reporter Bill Gertz called "Inside the Ring." In February 2007, he joined the Washington Examiner as its national security correspondent...
- James G. Lakely
- Wes Johnson (Cartoonist, Martini 'n Clyde - 1990-1992)
Editors-in-chief
- James R. WhelanJames R. WhelanJames R. Whelan is a journalist and historian who served as the first editor-in-chief of The Washington Times, holding the position from 1982 to 1984...
(1982–1984) - Smith HempstoneSmith HempstoneSmith Hempstone was a journalist, author, and the United States ambassador to Kenya in 1989–93. He was a vocal proponent of democracy, fighting for free elections in Kenya in 1991.-Biography:...
(1984–86) - Arnaud de BorchgraveArnaud de BorchgraveArnaud de Borchgrave is an American journalist who specializes in international politics.Born in Belgium to Audrey Dorothy Louise Townshend, daughter of Major General Sir Charles Vere Ferrers Townshend, and Belgian count Baudouin de Borchgrave d’Altena , head of Belgium's military intelligence...
(1986–1992); currently editor-at-large - Wesley PrudenWesley PrudenWesley Pruden is an American journalist and author. He was the editor-in-chief of The Washington Times from 1992 until his retirement in 2008.- Education and career :...
(1992–2008) - John F. Solomon (2008–2009)
- Sam DealeySam DealeySam Dealey is an American foreign correspondent and the former Editor of The Washington Times. He is a media fellow at the Hoover Institution, a board member at the American Spectator, and is a contributing editor for Reader's Digest and U.S. News and World Report...
(2010-2010) - Ed Kelley (2011- )
Managing Editors
- Coit Taylor Hendley Jr. (1982–1985)
- Josette Sheeran ShinerJosette Sheeran ShinerJosette Sheeran is the eleventh Executive Director of the United Nations World Food Programme . She was appointed by United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan and Food and Agriculture Organization Director-General Jacques Diouf in November 2006, and began her tenure April 2007...
(1992–1997) - William Giles (1997–2002)
- Fran Coombs (2002–2008)
- David W. Jones (2008–present)
Editorial Page Editors
- Ann Crutcher (1982–1984)
- William P. Cheshire (1984–1987)
- Tony SnowTony SnowRobert Anthony "Tony" Snow was an American journalist, political commentator, television news anchor, syndicated columnist, radio host, musician, and the third White House Press Secretary under President George W. Bush. Snow also worked for President George H. W. Bush as chief speechwriter and...
(1987–1990) - Tony BlankleyTony BlankleyAnthony “Tony” Blankley is an Executive Vice President with Edelman public relations in Washington, a Visiting Senior Fellow in National-Security Communications at the Heritage Foundation, weekly contributor to the nationally syndicated public radio program Left, Right & Center, author of The...
(2002–2007) - Brett M. Decker (2010–present)
See also
- Media in Washington, D.C.Media in Washington, D.C.Washington D.C., as the national capital of the United States, has numerous media outlets in various mediums. Some of these media are known throughout the United States including the newspaper The Washington Post and various broadcasting networks headquartered in D.C...
- Washington Times-HeraldWashington Times-HeraldThe Washington Times-Herald was an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C.. It was created by Cissy Patterson, when she bought the Herald and the Times from William Randolph Hearst, and merged them. The result was a '24 hour' newspaper, with 10 editions per day, from morning to...
Washington DC newspaper founded in 1893 by William Randolph HearstWilliam Randolph HearstWilliam Randolph Hearst was an American business magnate and leading newspaper publisher. Hearst entered the publishing business in 1887, after taking control of The San Francisco Examiner from his father...
. - Washington Times-Herald (Indiana)Washington Times-Herald (Indiana)The Washington Times-Herald is a daily newspaper serving Washington, Indiana, and adjacent portions of Daviess County, Indiana. It is owned by Community Newspaper Holdings Inc....
Washington, IndianaWashington, IndianaWashington is a city in Daviess County, Indiana, United States. The population was 11,509 at the 2010 census. The city is the county seat of Daviess County.-History:...
newspaper.
External links
- The Washington Times official website
- Fear and Loathing on the Potomac: The Washington Times at Twenty, Wesley PrudenWesley PrudenWesley Pruden is an American journalist and author. He was the editor-in-chief of The Washington Times from 1992 until his retirement in 2008.- Education and career :...
, Heritage Lecture No 757, August 15, 2002. - Defending Dixie: The Washington Times has always been conservative and error-prone -- now it's helping to popularize extremist ideas, Heidi Beirich and Bob Moser, Intelligence Report, Southern Poverty Law CenterSouthern Poverty Law CenterThe Southern Poverty Law Center is an American nonprofit civil rights organization noted for its legal victories against white supremacist groups; legal representation for victims of hate groups; monitoring of alleged hate groups, militias and extremist organizations; and educational programs that...
, undated.