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Korean Cult Leader Wants to Buy Back Faltering Washington Times
By James P. Tucker Jr.
The Rev. Sun Myung Moon, 90, whose ambition is to head a theocratic global government, is trying to buy back The Washington Times from his son and restore it to the complete “conservative” paper he introduced in 1982. On Aug. 23, Moonie men tentatively agreed to a deal to buy back The Times, with 30 days to reach a final agreement. “Father” Moon would completely restore the trimmed-back paper.
After Moon turned the paper over to his son Justin Moon, it went into a rapid decline, with sports and local news sections being abandoned and half the staff fired. Since 2008, circulation dropped from 87,000 to 40,000. Circulation of The Times, even at its peak, was only a fraction of that of The Washington Post and other metropolitan papers, and Moon subsidized it by an estimated $2 billion. Still, The Times had been a favorite microphone for the “right wing” to express strong views on political events. Because it was read dutifully by virtually all congressmen and political leaders, it had impact.
But Moon’s “conservative” pose was tactical. How many conservatives want to surrender national sovereignty to a world government? How many support a world leader who would impose a creepy “religion” on all of society? The powerful champions of world government, the Bilderberg group and the Trilateral Commission, would impose no religion and discourage all.
The senior Moon is negotiating to buy back the paper, according to U.S. News & World Report. Moon would also assume the paper’s $8 million to $10 million in debt and liabilities.
In the summer of 2008, the future of The Times appeared bleak. Unification Church contributions from Japan, long a crucial source of revenue, stopped flowing to the newspaper, according to a memo by Victor Walters, treasurer of the Times’ parent company. Walters refused to comment.
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“We are really on the edge here,” former finance chief Keith Cooperrider emailed a senior Moonie official. “This is payroll week, and we didn’t get all of last week’s funds yet, and this week’s funds are not at all clear. Should we start closing the doors?” Cooperrider presented a list of problems, including the fact that The Times’ Internet provider and health insurance bills were unpaid, as The Washington Post reported Sept. 6.
Cooperrider was instructed to contact Justin Moon, the second-oldest son. “Should TWT close their doors?” Cooperrider asked. “Has the Founder instructed that should happen?”
Former publisher Thomas McDevitt had high hopes, saying to church and Times officials in August 2009: “When The Washington Times reaches profitability, America will be resurrected. I heard that from Father directly years ago. Gentlemen, today is an historic day for which I deeply thank heaven. For the sake of this nation, and for the sake of God’s providence, I pray that we choose to focus on the mission and the purpose for which The Washington Times was founded. This franchise has become a national treasure.”
AFP editor James P. Tucker Jr. is a veteran journalist who spent many years as a member of the “elite” media in Washington. Since 1975 he has won widespread recognition, here and abroad, for his pursuit of on-the-scene stories reporting the intrigues of global power blocs such as the Bilderberg Group. Tucker is the author of Jim Tucker’s Bilderberg Diary: One Man’s 25-Year Battle to Shine the Light on the World Shadow Government. Bound in an attractive full-color softcover and containing 272 pages—loaded with photos, many never published before—the book recounts Tucker’s experiences over the last quarter century at Bilderberg meetings. $25 from AFP. No charge for S&H in U.S.
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(Issue # 38 & 39, September 20 & 27, 2010)
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