The end of the Wash. Times and Rev. Moon's right-wing charity

[babylonsister]

The end of the Wash. Times and Rev. Moon's right-wing charity
Eric Boehlert


You'd think that somebody with a direct line to the Almighty, and tapped by Jesus to save mankind on Earth, would be able to come up with a better business plan for running a daily newspaper. But, alas, after nearly three decades of unrelenting financial losses, the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, a federal tax cheat, accused cult leader, and founder of the Unification Church, has decided to pull out. Actually, according to news reports, it's more like Moon's U.S. college-educated sons, as part of an internal family power struggle, have decided to finally cut off the endless stream of Asian church cash that's kept The Washington Times afloat.

With the announcement that 40 percent of the Times' staff is getting pink-slipped, and that the daily's no longer even going to bother with traditional who/what/where/when/why reporting, instead publishing an opinion-heavy publication that will be free of charge at a diminished number of local outlets, Times owners look like they're angling to be a Weekly Standard wannabe, churning out lots of predictable GOP Noise Machine opinion prattle. (Paging Andrew Breitbart!) What is clear is that the daily's days as a functioning newspaper are now over.

R.I.P. The Washington Times.

At this time of reflection, it's worth pondering two rather astonishing facets about the Times and its bizarre life and looming death. The first is the deep irony of how the Times, a clarion voice of partisan right-wing values, was run as a charity for nearly three decades and whose business model made a mockery of the free-marketplace system supposedly cherished by conservatives. The second is the even deeper irony of how the Times was owned by a delusional prophet whose apocalyptic visions made an even bigger mockery of the Christian values supposedly cherished by conservative activists.

Indeed, the woeful Times has for decades stood at the center of a Beltway marriage-of-convenience for the ages, as conservatives nearly developed cataracts turning a collective blind eye to the glaringly obvious contradictions that Moon's worldview created with conservatives. (FYI, Moon proclaims to be more powerful than God, that Jesus was a failure, and that dictatorial rule is best. Hmm.....)

The failed Times venture was nonetheless a shining example of how conservative ideologues view journalism. To them, it's not a craft to be used for public good (or even to make money, as it turns out), but a tool to be used for mainly propaganda purposes. And specifically, in Moon's case, it was used to impress his friends back in Seoul, South Korea, and to inflate the influence of his Unification Church.

more...

http://mediamatters.org/columns/200912080004

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

1. This calls for that gravedancing animated GIF. Where is it? -nt

[lapfog_1]

2. This is BIG!

How do you kill the right wing echo chamber... start with removing the bottom.

That was the moonie times.

Now for the walls and the top (Faux snooze).

[BrklynLiberal]

3. Let me accompany your dancing with my violin....

:nopity:

[Captain Hilts]

4. I worked for Republicans on Cap Hill and they didn't read it. nt

[lapfog_1]

10. Of course not

It wasn't published for them, they are the ones that lie and know they are lying. They need rags like that to "propel the propaganda" into the echo chamber. They are the ones shouting into the echo chamber. They don't want to listen to that crap coming back out... that's for the illiterati and low information useful idiots.

[Captain Hilts]

11. The folks I worked for weren't wingnuts or Biblethumpers. nt

[derby378]

5. I'll drink to that

:toast:

[quiet.american]

6. I'll cry tomorrow. (Not really! :) nt

[katty]

7. buh-bye....mista moon

[rhett o rick]

8. r11 You mention that conservatives cherish Christianity and a free-market place.

And maybe true conservatives do, but many of the true conservatives have moved to the Democratic Party leaving the unprincipled reich-wing ideologues to run the republicant party. They dont cherish Christianity or the free-market, they cherish power and money.

[struggle4progress]

9. Another train wreck! So here's Seeger singin Casey Jones:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpqkbLT8QT8

[randr]

12. Why weren't these same criticisms coming from the

established national press these past years?
How is it that the Democrats could not sink their teeth into half of this dialog?

[glitch]

13. Why not fold, their job is being done by the "mainstream" now. nt

[burning rain]

14. When's Billo gonna crow that they're dying....

because they're unAmerican, against "the folks," and that they have it coming?

[D23MIURG23]

15. Good riddance wash. times.

:party:

[leveymg]

16. There was this one act of journalism among the Right-wing propaganda:

[progressoid]

17. Yea!!

Glad to see that piece of shit go.

[many a good man]

18. Their Sports page was better than WaPo's

I was always surprised how many people read the Times, especially minority men, until I noticed that they only read the Sports page and threw away the rest.

Good riddance Moonie fish wrapper!

[Blue Owl]

19. Never took a gander at their propaganda

But the news of their failure makes me giddy!

[Harry Monroe]

20. Good fucking riddance!!

[silverweb]

21. Good news!

[BlancheSplanchnik]

22. Remember when moon was coronated king on Capitol Hill?

great link here: http://www.gorenfeld.net/book/

[yellowcanine]

23. Hmm. A new free newspaper has been showing up on my driveway.

It looks kind of tabloidy with real news articles that definitely seem to have a right wing slant. Is this the new WT? It works real well for starting my outdoor fireplace. Has anyone else in the Washington DC area been getting this paper? I have looked but can't seem to find any information on publisher, etc.