The Middle East Times

Thomas Cromwell
December 1985

Not many members know about The Middle East Times, why it was established, where it is published and distributed, and for how long it has existed.

Father shared his vision of the importance of creating a newspaper for the Arabs and the Middle East at the international leaders' conference at his sixtieth birthday celebration in 1980. As a missionary in the area I knew that the local publications were generally of poor quality in both production standards and, more seriously, editorial standards. Little concern is shown for accuracy, and heavy bias is very prevalent.

I have always been confronted with a major challenge: How can we build a foundation in the Middle East for a harmonious world? In most countries of this region Unificationists are specifically forbidden from pursuing the activities we normally engage in. Our members have been deported and, in some cases, imprisoned. Yet this region is the center for 800 million Muslims worldwide. In our desire to build a world of unity we want to create good relations with Islam, the world's second largest religion. A newspaper is one way to foster that unity, if only indirectly.

In 1982 we received some proposals to help launch and run an English-language newspaper for the Middle East. Cyprus was chosen because of its central location, excellent communication facilities, and government encouragement of off-shore ventures. On March 7, 1983, the first issue of The Middle East Times came off the presses. We started with a very small budget and were faced with the problem of having to produce an excellent quality paper in a country with no history of having done that. Because of the sloppy standards that prevail in the printing business, we still have to supervise the printing of each issue.

Dana Watkins, originally assigned as a missionary to Iraq and News World correspondent in the Middle East for several years, became our first editor. He is assisted by Erwin Franzen, also formerly of News World. Peter Ellis, missionary to Cyprus, became the general manager, and I, the publisher. Since the beginning, we have been fortunate in establishing a network of excellent, well-respected writers as correspondents.

We now circulate in 12 countries including Turkey, Greece, Geneva, and London. Embassies, ministries, major corporations, and universities throughout the world are among our subscribers. We have established a reputation as the best- quality publication covering the Middle East. Since our founding, the MET has been widely reprinted in the area's press. We have a great deal of original material that others are interested in.

The staff of The Middle East Times in the newsroom. Publisher Thomas Cromwell stands at center rear, holding a copy of the MET.

Committed to Building Understanding

As the birthplace of the world's monotheistic religions -- Judaism, Christianity, and Islam -- this area has been the object of jealous competition among various faiths. At the heart of the conflicts lie deeply entrenched resentments. The Middle East Times is committed to building under- standing among the diverse human elements in the region. It proposes to do so, in part, by providing accurate, unbiased coverage of the activities on all sides of the disputes, in every case respecting the integrity of the people it reports on. It seeks to avoid any bias of a religious, ethnic, racial, or partisan nature so as not to support one individual, faction, sect, or nation to the detriment of another. We believe our task is to set a journalistic standard of excellence and honorableness.

The Middle East Times strives to represent the aspirations of all the people of the region, but we believe that the greatest threat to the fulfillment of these aspirations is atheistic communism. For this reason our paper is outspoken in its opposition to communism -- in its ideological positions as well as in its many dangerous incarnations.

Many letters have come in praising The Middle East Times. Richard Curtiss, executive director of American Educational Trust, wrote: "Every time I see a new issue of the MET I feel confirmed in my original judgment that it's the best thing on the newsstands in the area"

We want to continue the tradition of excellence our paper has started in helping promote reconciliation among the many factions and countries in this region.