Trouble at the 'Times'—No, the Other 'Times'

The Washington Times doesn't get much press, but yesterday word broke via Michael Calderone's Politico blog that three top executives at the Unification Church-owned newspaper had been ousted.

President and Publisher Thomas P. McDevitt, CFO Keith Cooperrider, and Chairman Dong Moon Joo have all been fired. The reason given, laid out in a statement from acting Times President Jonathan Slevin, went as follows: "Our assessment team looks forward to emerging with a market-based plan that supports the sustainability of The Washington Times and advances the Times’ role as an important source of news and opinion for readers who value a diversity of information and analysis."

Got that?

A spokesperson for the paper (sort of) clarified that bit of oblique corporate speak in today's Washington Post, telling Frank Ahrens and Howard Kurtz, "It's safe to say that the conditions impacting a lot of publications have also impacted the Times, and perhaps more so."

According to Ahrens and Kurtz, the Times has lost more than $1.7 billion for the Unification Church since its founding twenty years ago as a conservative news outlet. That may seem like an awful lot of money, but really what's a few million—or billion!—for an organization that set out to have a political impact in the nation's capitol (the Times was born after The Washington Star folded and the Post attempted to keep competitors out of the marketplace). Yesterday, the New York Times' Richard Pérez-Peña reported the New York Post has lost $70 million last year.

More changes may be ahead for the Times: Talking Points Memos Ben Frumin reported yesterday that the paper's Executive Editor John Solomon may also be leaving the paper. Solomon is relatively new to the job and the organization, having replaced Wes Pruden, a Times veteran, who retired early last year.

The Times may get its money from the Unification Church (ask a Times employee who owns the paper the line offered is that it's not owned by the church directly, but is in the hands of senior members of the church), but the vast majority of its journalists are not members of the church. Among the paper's alumni are Peter Baker, who covers the White House for The New York Times; Major Garrett, who has the same beat at Fox News; and J. Jennings Moss, the editor of this website.