Washington Times struggles amid divisions of family, ideology, finances
By Ian Shapira
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, September 6, 2010
Last fall in South Korea, the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, founder of the Unification Church, presided over a mass wedding in the tens of thousands, blessing marriages he had personally arranged -- all couples in white gowns, kimonos and black suits. But the self-described messiah, then approaching his 90th birthday, had been making other arrangements, drawing up a succession plan in which his grown sons would maintain his movement's legacy.
Sean Moon, the youngest son, who once performed 21,000 bows in honor of his parents, assumed the church's top post, reportedly as international president and religious director. The second-oldest living son, Justin Moon, handled the family's conglomerate of newspaper, construction and manufacturing companies in Asia. And Preston Moon, the oldest living son, took control of South Korean real estate and various U.S. companies, including the Washington Times, founded by his father in 1982 as a conservative daily that would lead the fight against communism. (Sean is reportedly in his early 30s, while his brothers are each roughly a decade older than he.)
But Preston, who had been blessed by his father a decade earlier as the son who would lead the Unification movement, was furious about this division of the family empire and felt outmaneuvered by his siblings, according to church and Times officials who declined to be named because they were wary of offending the faith's leaders.
Through the spring and summer of this year, that fraternal rivalry has come perilously close to claiming as its victim the Times, which was once one of the nation's most prominent platforms for conservative writers and politicians but is now one of the most endangered newspapers in a troubled industry. Since 2008, Times circulation has tumbled from 87,000 daily copies to about 40,000; its sports and metro sections were shuttered; its three top executives were fired; and more than half the newsroom was laid off.
(More here.)
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, September 6, 2010
Last fall in South Korea, the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, founder of the Unification Church, presided over a mass wedding in the tens of thousands, blessing marriages he had personally arranged -- all couples in white gowns, kimonos and black suits. But the self-described messiah, then approaching his 90th birthday, had been making other arrangements, drawing up a succession plan in which his grown sons would maintain his movement's legacy.
Sean Moon, the youngest son, who once performed 21,000 bows in honor of his parents, assumed the church's top post, reportedly as international president and religious director. The second-oldest living son, Justin Moon, handled the family's conglomerate of newspaper, construction and manufacturing companies in Asia. And Preston Moon, the oldest living son, took control of South Korean real estate and various U.S. companies, including the Washington Times, founded by his father in 1982 as a conservative daily that would lead the fight against communism. (Sean is reportedly in his early 30s, while his brothers are each roughly a decade older than he.)
But Preston, who had been blessed by his father a decade earlier as the son who would lead the Unification movement, was furious about this division of the family empire and felt outmaneuvered by his siblings, according to church and Times officials who declined to be named because they were wary of offending the faith's leaders.
Through the spring and summer of this year, that fraternal rivalry has come perilously close to claiming as its victim the Times, which was once one of the nation's most prominent platforms for conservative writers and politicians but is now one of the most endangered newspapers in a troubled industry. Since 2008, Times circulation has tumbled from 87,000 daily copies to about 40,000; its sports and metro sections were shuttered; its three top executives were fired; and more than half the newsroom was laid off.
(More here.)
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