The Rev. Sun Myung Moon is regaining control of the Washington Times after allies of the South Korean spiritual leader agreed to acquire the paper for just $1 and assumption of most if its debts, according to an internal memo.
The memo contradicts rumors that a feud among the Moon’s sons over control of the Washington Times prompted the father to buy it back for tens of millions of dollars.
The deal is financially similar to the one the Washington Post cut in selling its money-losing Newsweek to businessman Sidney Harmon.
In the memo written by Michael Marshall, UPI editor emeritus and a Times adviser [both are owned by Unification Church controlled News World Media], earlier suggestions that Moon son Preston was planning to close the paper were also challenged. Instead, Marshall wrote that Preston Moon invested money to keep the paper afloat after his brother Justin cut off funding last year from the church sources that have historically funded the Times.
He wrote that Preston was devoted to continuing the paper, even after massive staff cuts, to keep alive the legacy of his father, who started the newspaper in 1982 as a conservative and Christian voice in Washington. “If there was no concern for TWT’s future as part of the founder’s legacy, it could simply have been closed by [Preston Moon-controlled Unification Church International.] 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.”
Full story: Washington Times Sold For $1, Just Like Newsweek – Washington Whispers (usnews.com)