The Washington Times: Difference between revisions - Wikipedia

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On January 28, 2008, John F. Solomon began work as executive editor of the ''Times''. He is known for his work as an investigative journalist for AP and the ''Washington Post''.<ref>[http://www.connpost.com/ci_8089629?source=rss State Native to lead DC newspaper] [[Connecticut Post]] January 26, 2008</ref>

==Criticism==

===Editorial independence===

Media watchdogs [[Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting]] asserts that the Church has significant influence on the paper and gives the Church significant credit (or blame) for the ''Times''' content and actions.<ref>http://www.fair.org/media-outlets/washington-times.html</ref><ref name="sm970617.htm"/>

In 2002, during the 20th anniversary party for the ''Times'', Rev. Moon declared: "''The Washington Times'' will become the instrument in spreading the truth about God to the world."<ref>{{cite news | first= | last= | coauthors= | title=Moon Propaganda Machine | date= | publisher= | url =http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&contentId=A60061-2002May22 | work = | pages = | accessdate = 2007-12-18 | language = }}</ref> The paper's first editor-in-chief, [[James Whelan]], said that he resigned rather than accepting what he saw as church interference with his operation of the paper. "I have blood on my hands," he declared.<ref>{{cite book | last = Wallis | first = David | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Killed: Great Journalism Too Hot to Print | publisher = Nation Books | date = 2004 | location = | pages = 146 | url = http://books.google.com/books?id=HH9XFP2VAhAC&pg=PA146&lpg=PA146&dq=whelan+%22blood+on+my+hands%22&source=web&ots=6VS_Y93raN&sig=L3UpT78cPFfq2FFt3FQmIic9RFk | doi = | id = | isbn = 1560255811 }}</ref> The paper's current editor says Whelan was fired because he was difficult to work with and other staffers were threatening to quit because of this.{{Fact|date=December 2007}}

''Washington Times'' editors deny any Church influence on their news coverage and editorial policy, or that they have any interest in [[proselytize|proselytizing]] directly for the Unification Church.{{Fact|date=December 2007}} According to [[Wesley Pruden]], the current editor-in-chief, the paper's [[freedom of the press|editorial independence]] is guaranteed{{Fact|date=December 2007}} by a contract between him and the owners, and no editor-in-chief has been a member of the Unification Church. He estimated that no more than 10 of the editorial staff of 230 are members of the Unification Church.{{Fact|date=July 2007}}

===Allegations of news and editorial bias===

According to the [[Columbia Journalism Review]], "Because of its history of a seemingly ideological approach to the news, the paper has always faced questions about its credibility."<ref>http://archives.cjr.org/year/95/2/times.asp</ref> [[Salon.com]]<ref>http://www.salon.com/politics/col/spinsanity/2002/09/05/nea/index_np.html</ref><ref>http://www.salon.com/politics/col/spinsanity/2002/09/18/nea/print.html</ref> and [[Daily Howler|The Daily Howler]]<ref>http://www.dailyhowler.com/h120899_2.shtml</ref><ref>http://www.dailyhowler.com/h092500_1.shtml</ref><ref>http://www.dailyhowler.com/dh082702.shtml</ref><ref>http://www.dailyhowler.com/dh022504.shtml</ref> have published analyses of what they believe are serious factual errors and examples of bias in the paper's news coverage. Conservative-turned-liberal writer [[David Brock]], who worked for the ''Times''' sister publication ''Insight'', said in his book ''[[Blinded by the Right]]'' that the news writers at the ''Times'' were encouraged and rewarded for giving news stories a conservative slant. In ''Right-Wing Media and How It Corrupts Democracy'' Brock wrote "the ''Washington Times'' was governed by a calculatedly unfair [[media bias|political bias]] and that its journalistic ethics were close to nil."<ref>http://www.thinkingpeace.com/Lib/lib099.html</ref>

In 1988, the ''Times'' helped [[George H. W. Bush]] become president by printing a false rumor about rival candidate [[Michael Dukakis]]'s mental health. <ref>[http://www.consortiumnews.com/2008/020208.html Obama, Clinton, & the GOP Attack Machine] [[Robert Parry]] 02-02-2008</ref>

===Urban legends and political myths===

The editorial pages of [[The Washington Times]] have frequently been cited as the source of political myths popular among [[neoconservatives]].<ref name='Washington Post 2005-12-22'>{{cite news | first=Glenn | last=Kessler | coauthors= | title=File the Bin Laden Phone Leak Under 'Urban Myths' | date=[[2005-12-22]] | publisher= | url =http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/21/AR2005122101994_pf.html | work =Washington Post | pages =A02 | accessdate = 2008-02-01 | language = }}</ref>

On September 5, 2002 Salon.com writer Brendan Nyhan published ''The big NEA-Sept. 11 lie; How the Washington Times helped create a myth about the teachers' union and Sept. 11'',<ref name='Salon.com 2002-09-05'>{{cite news | first=Brendan | last=Nyhan | coauthors= | title=The big NEA-Sept. 11 lie; How the Washington Times helped create a myth about the teachers' union and Sept. 11 | date=[[2002-09-05]] | publisher=Salon | url =http://www.spinsanity.org/columns/20020905.html | work =Salon | pages = | accessdate = 2008-02-01 | language = }}</ref> The controversy was created shortly before the first anniversary of the [[September 11]] attacks by [[Ellen Sorokin]] in Page 1 article of the Washington Times. Journalist Nyhan says that Sorokin falsely attributed statements and "lesson plans" to the NEA, and was "intentionally deceptive" in her use of out of context quotes selectively "farmed" from an essay written by Brian Lippincott of the Graduate School of Professional Psychology at the John F. Kennedy University in California.<ref name='NASP 2002-03-22'> {{cite web|url=http://www.naspwebservices.org/resources/crisis_safety/tolerance_general.html |title=Promoting Tolerance and Peace in Children |accessdate=2008-02-03 |last=Lippincott |first=Brian |date=2002-03-22 |work=National Association of School Psychologists }}</ref>

:<blockquote>''"The story is familiar: A distorted claim is fed into the echo chamber, where it is increasingly twisted as it is repeated over and over until it becomes conventional wisdom."''

Nyhan's report for Salon documents the speed with which the NEA "lies and distortions" spread internationally to major news outlets, and cites other examples at the Times. In 2008, various internet "Urban Legends" websites and internet blogs are found still echoing the myth and it's variations, including numerous [[Urban Legend]] chain e-mails featuring increasingly distorted attacks on the NEA, teacher unions and public schools in general. As of January 2008, an explicit search query of Google's index of the [[Internet]] yielded more than [http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&as_qdr=all&q=NEA+%22blame+america%22 1,000] websites with information either repeating or refuting the "NEA blames America" story.

===Alleged racial insensitivity===

The paper has received criticism for its coverage of racially sensitive matters, and numerous allegations that racist and sexist attitudes are pervasive among writers, editors and managers have emerged in the context of a battle for control of the paper.

Editor [[Robert Stacy McCain]] was accused of racism in a 2002 New York Press column by [[Michelangelo Signorile]] that reported on McCain's criticism of [[Abraham Lincoln]], pro-slavery sympathies toward the [[Confederate States of America|Confederacy]] in the [[U.S. Civil War|Civil War]] and McCain's membership in the neo-Confederate organization [[League of the South]], which the [[Southern Poverty Law Center]] called "rife with white supremacists and racist ideology."

Columnist [[Samuel Francis]], after speaking at a conference hosted by [[American Renaissance (magazine)|American Renaissance]], a self-described "pro-white" group, was subsequently fired by editor-in-chief [[Wesley Pruden]].

Further up in the Washington Times management, Pruden himself has been described by former Times writer [[George Archibald (newspaperman)|George Archibald]] as an ''"an unreconstructed Confederate"'' who ''"still believes the South and slavery were right"''. Archibald also confirmed and [http://georgearchibald.typepad.com/george_archibald/2006/12/can_the_washing.html corroborated] a report by [[The Nation]] that described "daily hands-on editor" Fran Coombs as a ''"raging racist who despises blacks, Jews, and Hispanic immigrants, and looks down on women..."''. Coombs' wife Marion subsequently confirmed charges of racism during an interviewed by [[The Nation's]] [[Max Blumenthal]] [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/george-archibald/top-washington-times_b_30565.html

The recent storm of allegations of racism against the Times management have been the subject of reports of a possible "smear campaign" in the context of an ongoing [http://blog.washingtonpost.com/rawfisher/2007/01/turning_point_for_the_moon_emp.html battle] for control of the paper, including speculations that the charges are motivated by supporters of [[Sun Myung Moon]] and his efforts to install his son, [[Hyun Jin Moon]] as the new CEO at the paper. Reportedly, members of the current regime strongly oppose Rev. Moon attempts to put Huyn Jin Moon in control of the Times. The controversy was fueled when the highly inflammatory charges of racism by [http://www.tparents.org/Moon-Talks/hyunjinmoon/HyunJinMoon-060920.htm Max Blumenthal] and George Archibald were published in the [http://www.tparents.org/Moon-Talks/hyunjinmoon/ "Words of Hyun Jin Moon"] section of the non-official Unificationist [http://www.tparents.org Tparents.org] website.

==Notable current and former writers==