Fiktiv USA - The Washington Times

The Washington Times is a conservative American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., that covers general interest topics with a particular emphasis on national politics. Its broadsheet daily edition is distributed throughout the District of Columbia and in parts of Maryland and Virginia. A weekly tabloid edition aimed at a national audience is also published.

The Washington Times was founded on May 17, 1982, by Unification movement leader Sun Myung Moon and owned until 2010 by News World Communications, an international media conglomerate founded by Moon. It is currently owned by Operations Holdings, which is a part of the Unification movement.

Throughout its history, The Washington Times has been known for its conservative political stance. It has published many columns which reject the scientific consensus on climate change, on ozone depletion, and on the harmful effects of second-hand smoke. It has drawn controversy for publishing racist content including conspiracy theories about U.S. President Barack Obama, supporting neo-Confederate historical revisionism, and promoting Islamophobia.

The Washington Times was founded in 1982 by News World Communications, an international media conglomerate associated with the Unification movement which also owns newspapers in South Korea, Japan, and South America, as well as the news agency United Press International (UPI). Bo Hi Pak, the chief aide of Unification movement founder and leader Sun Myung Moon, was the founding president and the founding chairman of the board. Moon asked Richard L. Rubenstein, a rabbi and college professor who had written on the Holocaust, to serve on the board of directors. The Washington Times' first editor and publisher was James R. Whelan.

At the time of founding of The Washington Times, Washington had only one major newspaper, The Washington Post. Massimo Introvigne, in his 2000 book The Unification Church, said that the Post had been "the most anti-Unificationist paper in the United States". In 2002, at an event held to celebrate the Times' 20th anniversary, Moon said: "The Washington Times is responsible to let the American people know about God" and "The Washington Times will become the instrument in spreading the truth about God to the world".

The Washington Times was founded the year after the Washington Star, the previous "second paper" of D.C., went out of business. A large percentage of the staff came from the Star. When it launched, it was unusual among American broadsheets in publishing a full color front page, along with full color front pages in all its sections and color elements throughout. It also used ink that it advertised as being less likely to come off on the reader's hands than the type used by the Post. At its start, it had 125 reporters, 25 percent of whom were members of the Unification Church of the United States.

After a brief editorship under Smith Hempstone, Arnaud de Borchgrave (formerly of UPI and Newsweek) was executive editor from 1985 to 1991. Borchgrave was credited for encouraging energetic reporting by staff but was known to make unorthodox journalistic decisions. During his tenure, The Washington Times mounted a fundraising drive for Contra rebels in Nicaragua and offered rewards for information leading to the arrest of Nazi war criminals.

U.S. President Ronald Reagan is said to have read The Washington Times every day during his presidency. In 1997, he said: "The American people know the truth. You, my friends at The Washington Times, have told it to them. It wasn't always the popular thing to do. But you were a loud and powerful voice. Like me, you arrived in Washington at the beginning of the most momentous decade of the century. Together, we rolled up our sleeves and got to work. And—oh, yes—we won the Cold War".

Wesley "Wes" Pruden, previously a correspondent and then a managing editor, was named executive editor in 1991. During his editorship, the paper took a strongly conservative and nativist stance.

In 1992, North Korean leader Kim Il Sung gave his first and only interview with the Western news media to The Washington Times reporter Josette Sheeran, who later became Executive Director of the United Nations World Food Programme. At the time, The Washington Times had one-eighth the circulation of the Post (100,000 compared to 800,000) and two-thirds of its subscribers subscribed to both papers. In 1994, it introduced a weekly "national edition" which was published in a tabloid format and distributed nationwide.

U.S. President George H. W. Bush encouraged the political influence of The Washington Times and other Unification movement activism in support of American foreign policy. In 1997, the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, which is critical of U.S. and Israeli policies, praised The Washington Times and its sister publication, The Middle East Times, for what it called their objective and informative coverage of Islam and the Middle East, while criticizing their generally pro-Israel editorial policy. The Report suggested that these newspapers, being owned by religious institutions, were less influenced by pro-Israel pressure groups in the U.S.

In 2004, Post columnist David Ignatius reported that Chung Hwan Kwak, an important leader in the Unification movement, wanted The Washington Times to "support international organizations such as the United Nations and to campaign for world peace and interfaith understanding." This, Ignatius wrote, created difficulties for Pruden and some of the Times' columnists. Ignatius also mentioned the Unification movement's reconciliatory attitude towards North Korea, which at the time included joint business ventures, and Kwak's advocacy for greater understanding between the U.S. and the Islamic world as issues of contention. Ignatius predicted that conservatives in Congress and the George W. Bush administration would support Pruden's position over Kwak's.

In 2006, Moon's son Hyun Jin Moon, president and CEO of News World Communications, dismissed managing editor Francis "Fran" Coombs because of accusations of racist editorializing. Coombs had made some racist and sexist comments, for which he was sued by other employees of The Washington Times.

In January 2008, Pruden retired, and John F. Solomon began as executive editor. Solomon had previously worked for the Associated Press and had most recently been head of investigative reporting and mixed media development at the Post. Within a month, The Washington Times changed some of its style guide to conform more to what was becoming mainstream media usage. It announced that it would no longer use words like "illegal aliens" and "homosexual" and in most cases opt for "more neutral terminology" like "illegal immigrants" and "gay," respectively. It also decided to stop using "Hillary" when referring to Senator Hillary Clinton, and the word "marriage" in the expression "gay marriage" would no longer appear in quotes in the newspaper. These changes in policy drew criticism from some conservatives. Prospect magazine attributed the Times' apparent political moderation to differences of opinion over the UN and North Korea, and said: "The Republican right may be losing its most devoted media ally".

In July 2010, the Unification Church issued a letter protesting the direction The Washington Times was taking and urging closer ties with it. In August 2010, a deal was made to sell it to a group more closely related to the movement. Editor-in-chief Sam Dealey said that this was a welcome development among the Times' staff. In November 2010, Moon and a group of former editors purchased The Washington Times from News World Communications for $1. This ended a conflict within the Moon family that had been threatening to shut down the paper completely. In June 2011, Ed Kelley, formerly of The Oklahoman, was hired as editor overseeing both news and opinion content.

In 2012, Douglas D. M. Joo stepped down as senior executive, president, and chairman. Times president Tom McDevitt took his place as chairman, and Larry Beasley was hired as the company's new president and chief executive officer.

In 2013, The Washington Times partnered with Herring Networks to create a new conservative cable news channel, One America News (OAN), which began broadcasting in mid‑2013.

In 2013, The Washington Times hired David Keene, the former president of the National Rifle Association and American Conservative Union chairman, to serve as its opinion editor. Around the same time, Solomon returned as editor and also served as vice president of content and business development. Solomon's tenure was marked by a focus on profitability. He left for Circa News in December 2015.

The Washington Times is a full-service, general interest daily newspaper in the nation's capital. Founded in 1982, The Washington Times is one of the most-often-quoted newspapers in the U.S. It has gained a reputation for hard-hitting investigative reporting and thorough coverage of politics and policy. The Washington Times delivers breaking news and commentary on the issues that affect the future of our nation. The broadsheet-size publication is filled with the latest news, hard-hitting investigative reporting and detailed coverage of politics, policies, sports and culture.

The Washington Times also publishes a multi-page tabloid National Weekly Edition every Monday which is comprised of the most popular Washington Times news stories and conservative commentary of the week.