The Words of the Joo Family
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The Words of the Joo Family |
The Rev. Sun Myung Moon will once again control the Washington Times, confirming reports last week that the 90-year-old Unification Church founder would buy back the paper. The price: $1.
Paul Bedard, of U.S. News and World Report, writes that the conservative broadsheet will be transferred from News World Communications -- run by Rev. Moon's son, Preston Moon -- to News World Media Development, a Unification Church entity headed by former Times Chairman Douglas M. Joo.
Bedard cites the $1 figure from a memo written by Times adviser Michael Marshall.
The new owners may only be paying a buck, but they'll have to take on the money-losing paper's financial obligations to staff and creditors. In that way, the deal is similar to the recent Newsweek sale. Audio-equipment magnate Sidney Harman reportedly agreed to pay $1 to the Washington Post Co. for the money-losing magazine, while taking on its daunting array of debts.
For Moon, the Washington Times' mission has always been more about spreading ideology than turning a profit. Moon founded the paper in 1982 as a communist-fighting, right-leaning alternative to the Washington Post. Since then, the Unification Church has reportedly dropped more than $1 billion into funding the paper.
But the church cut off funding in 2009, leading to major newsroom changes and uncertainty about whether the paper could stay afloat.
In November, Joo was one of three top executives ousted in a power struggle, with executive editor John Solomon resigning three days later. By the end of 2009, more than half the paper's staff either left or was let go in a massive reorganization.