The Washington Times
The Washington Times is an American conservative daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It covers general interest topics with an emphasis on national politics. Its broadsheet daily edition is distributed throughout Washington, D.C. and the greater Washington metropolitan area, including suburban Maryland and Northern Virginia. It also publishes a subscription-based weekly tabloid edition aimed at a national audience.
The first edition of The Washington Times was published on May 17, 1982. The newspaper was founded by Unification Church leader Sun Myung Moon, and it was owned until 2010 by News World Communications, an international media conglomerate founded by Moon. It is currently owned by Operations Holdings, which is a part of the Unification Church movement.
The Washington Times has been known for its conservative political stance, often supporting the policies of Republican presidents Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush, and Donald Trump. During the 1990s and 2000s, The Washington Times was critical of the Democratic presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, and published stories supporting neo-confederate historical revisionism. It also drew controversy by publishing conspiracy theories and racist columns by a former editor about U.S. president Barack Obama. The Washington Times has published columns contradicting scientific consensus on multiple environmental and health issues.
History
1980s
The Washington Times was founded May 17, 1982, by News World Communications, a New York City-based international media conglomerate associated with the Unification Church, which also owns United Press International and newspapers in Japan, South America, and South Korea.Bo Hi Pak, chief aide to Unification Church founder and leader Sun Myung Moon, was the founding president and 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. The newspaper's first editor and publisher was James R. Whelan.
The Washington Times was founded one year after The Washington Star, a Washington, D.C. daily newspaper, went out of business, leaving the city with The Washington Post as its only daily newspaper. A large percentage of the newspaper's news staff came from the Star.
Unusual among daily newspapers when The Washington Times was founded, the newspaper published full color front pages in all its sections and color elements throughout. It also used ink that it advertised as being less likely to come off on the reader's hands than the type used by The Washington Post. At its start, it had 125 reporters, 25 percent of whom were members of the Unification Church of the United States.
President Ronald Reagan read The Washington Times every day during his presidency. 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 War."
After a brief editorship under Smith Hempstone, Arnaud de Borchgrave, a former UPI and Newsweek reporter, became executive editor, serving from 1985 to 1991. Borchgrave was credited with encouraging energetic reporting by staff but was known to make unorthodox journalistic decisions. During his tenure, The Washington Times mounted a fundraising drive for Contra rebels in Nicaragua and offered rewards for information leading to the arrest of Nazi war criminals.
From 1985 to 2008, News World published a weekly news magazine called Insight on the News, also called just Insight, as a companion to The Washington Times. Insights reporting sometimes resulted in journalistic controversy.
1990s
In 1991, Moon said he had spent between $900 million and $1 billion on The Washington Times. By 2002, Moon had spent between $1.7 billion and $2 billion, according to different estimates.Wesley Pruden, previously a correspondent and then a managing editor of The Washington Times, was named executive editor in 1991. During his editorship, the paper took a strongly conservative and nativist editorial stance.
In 1992, North Korean leader Kim Il Sung gave his first and only interview with the Western news media to The Washington Times reporter Josette Sheeran, who later became executive director of the United Nations World Food Programme.
In 1992, The Washington Times had one-eighth the circulation of The Washington Post and two-thirds of its subscribers subscribed to both papers. In 1994, it introduced a weekly national edition, which was published in a tabloid format and distributed nationally. U.S. President George H. W. Bush encouraged the political influence of The Washington Times and other Unification Church movement activism in support of American foreign policy.
In 1997, the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, which is critical of U.S. and Israeli policies, praised The Washington Times and its sister publication, The Middle East Times, for what it called their objective and informative coverage of Islam and the Middle East, while criticizing The Washington Times for its generally pro-Israel editorial positions. The Report suggested that these newspapers and The Christian Science Monitor, each owned by religious institutions, were less influenced by pro-Israel pressure groups than corporate-owned newspapers.
2000s
In 2002, at an event held to celebrate The Washington 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."In 2004, David Ignatius, a correspondent for The Washington Post, reported that Chung Hwan Kwak, a leader in the Unification Church, wanted The Washington Times to "support international organizations such as the United Nations and to campaign for world peace and interfaith understanding." This, Ignatius wrote, created difficulties for Pruden and some of The Washington Times columnists. Ignatius also mentioned the Unification Church movement's reconciliatory attitude towards North Korea, which at the time included joint business ventures, and Kwak's advocacy for greater understanding between the U.S. and the Islamic world as issues of contention. Ignatius predicted that conservatives in Congress and the George W. Bush administration would support Pruden's position over Kwak's.
In 2006, Moon's son, Hyun Jin Moon, president and CEO of News World Communications, dismissed managing editor Francis "Fran" Coombs following accusations of racist editorializing. Coombs had made some racist and sexist comments, for which he was sued by other employees at The Washington Times.
In January 2008, Pruden retired, and John F. Solomon, who worked with the Associated Press and had most recently been head of investigative reporting and mixed media development at The Washington Post, was appointed executive editor.
A month later, The Washington Times changed some of its style guide to conform more to what was becoming mainstream media usage. It 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. It also decided to stop using "Hillary" when referring to then U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton, and the word "marriage" in the expression "gay marriage" would no longer appear in quotes in the newspaper. These policy changes drew criticism from some conservatives. Prospect magazine attributed The Washington Times apparent political moderation to differences of opinion over the United Nations and North Korea, and wrote, "The Republican right may be losing its most devoted media ally."
In November 2009, The New York Times reported that The Washington Times would no longer be receiving funds from the Unification Church movement and might have to cease publication or become an online publication only. Later that year, it dismissed 40 percent of its 370 employees and stopped its subscription service, instead distributing the paper free in some areas of the Washington metropolitan area, including federal government departments and agencies. However, a subscription website owned by the paper, theconservatives.com, and the Times three-hour radio program, America's Morning News, both continued. The paper also 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.
On December 31, 2009, The Washington Times announced that it would no longer be a full-service newspaper, eliminating its metropolitan news and sports sections.
2010s
In July 2010, the Unification Church issued a letter protesting the direction The Washington Times was taking and urging closer ties with it. In August 2010, a deal was made to sell it to a group more closely related to the movement. Editor-in-chief Sam Dealey said that this was a welcome development among the Times staff.In November 2010, Moon and a group of former editors purchased The Washington Times from News World Communications for $1. This ended a conflict within the Moon family that had been threatening to shut down the paper completely. In June 2011, Ed Kelley, formerly of The Oklahoman, was hired as editor overseeing both news and opinion content.
In March 2011, The Washington Times announced that some former staffers would be rehired and that the paper would bring back its sports, metro, and life sections.
In 2012, Douglas D. M. Joo stepped down as senior executive, president, and chairman. Times president Tom McDevitt took his place as chairman, and Larry Beasley was hired as the company's new president and chief executive officer.
In March 2013, The Washington Times partnered with Herring Networks to create a new conservative cable news channel, One America News Network, which began broadcasting in mid‑2013.
In July 2013, The Washington Times hired David Keene, former president of the National Rifle Association and chairman of the American Conservative Union, to serve as its opinion editor.
In September 2013, Solomon returned as editor and vice president of content and business development. Solomon's tenure was marked by a focus on profitability.
In September 2015, the newspaper had its first profitable month, ending a streak of monthly financial losses over the paper's first 33 years. In December 2015, Solomon left for Circa News.
The Washington Times opinion editor Charles Hurt was one of Trump's earliest supporters in Washington, D.C.
During the 2016 presidential election, The Washington Times did not endorse a presidential candidate, but it endorsed Trump for reelection in the 2020 presidential election.