The Words of the Joo Family
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The Words of the Joo Family |
The Washington Times will be passed from one Unification Church-affiliated group to another for $1 plus the paper's debts and liabilities, an internal memo confirms, again giving Rev. Sun Myung Moon control of the newspaper he founded in 1982.
Last week, Executive Editor Sam Dealey confirmed that there was a deal on the table to sell the publication to News World Media Development, a Unification Church entity headed by former Times Chairman Douglas M. Joo, but there was no word on a price. While the offer stands at $1, the debts and liabilities that News World Media Development will take on could put the price tag in the millions, making the deal similar to the Washington Post's recent sale of Newsweek for $1 plus debt to Sidney Harmon.
The internal memo, written by UPI editor and Times adviser Michael Marshall and leaked to U.S. News and World Report on Tuesday, swats down a lot of what has been reported in the media about the fate of the conservative broadsheet. Marshall writes to "shed some well-sourced light on the question" and dismisses reports that the paper was going to shut its doors several weeks ago.
He also writes of the commitment to the newspaper of Rev. Moon's son, Preston, who controls Unification Church International and the newspaper.
"If there was no concern for [The Washington Times'] future as part of the Founder's legacy, it would simply have been closed by [Preston Moon]," Marshall wrote. "Instead, UCI has struggled valiantly for over a year to keep TWT alive, after funding from Asia was cut off without warning in July 2009."
The $1 price tag also refutes rumors that an ongoing family feud was going to force Rev. Moon to pay a hefty amount for the paper, which has lost top executives and laid off dozens of staffers in recent months. Dealey would not comment on the memo or the price tag, but he expressed elation last week when the preliminary agreement was announced.
A print copy of the Washington Times sells for $1.