The Words of the Slevin Family

Washington Times Disputes Bias Complaint - Jonathan Slevin

Howard Kurtz
November 19, 2009
Washington Post Staff Writer

The Washington Times, responding to a federal complaint by its former editorial page editor, says that the newspaper "does not discriminate and does not tolerate discrimination."

In a note to readers in Thursday's editions, Jonathan Slevin, the acting president and publisher, also says that despite changes to be unveiled in the coming weeks and months, "we will continue to maintain the same spirited reporting on our news pages and online, and a robust alternative voice on our opinion pages."

Slevin's note appears a day after The Washington Post reported that Richard Miniter had been fired as the Time's editorial page editor and that he had filed a discrimination complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. In that filing Miniter contends, among other things, that he was coerced into attending a religious weekend and mass wedding presided over by the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, leader of the Unification Church, some of whose officials own the Times.

Slevin wrote that "we operate within the law and require the same of employees. I am confident that once the charges raised by Mr. Miniter are investigated, the company will be fully vindicated."

Slevin assumed his role last week after a shakeup that involved the ouster of three top company executives and the resignation of Executive Editor John Solomon, a former Post reporter who has not commented publicly about his departure. Appearing to signal the possibility of sharp cutbacks, Slevin said the money-losing Times, like many American families and companies, is dealing with "limited resources and fiscal constraints... in an environment that is increasingly dominated by digital media and the blogosphere."

Without a successor to Solomon or Miniter having been named, many Times staffers say they are nervous about their jobs. In a clear effort to provide assurances about the paper's future, the acting publisher says that the Internet "has given us the ability to share information instantaneously, it has also opened the way for less credible media sources to report factually inaccurate stories, which, unfortunately, take on a life of their own... Many of our competitors enthusiastically repeat rumors, myths and misinformation." 

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