Moon: WT too nutcase wingnut, new editor sought

[warrens]

PRINT THIS ARTICLE
EMAIL THIS ARTICLE
WRITE TO THE EDITORS
TAKE ACTION NOW
DEL.ICIO.US BOOKMARK
SUBSCRIBE TO THE NATION

Additional reporting by George Zornick.

These are edgy times at the Washington Times.

Still one of the most important right-wing organs in the nation, the paper has a circulation base of around 100,000. According to a source close to senior management, in the past two decades it has burned through far more than the $1.7 billion previously reported. During that time its editorial stance has consistently leaned to the hard right, as its favorite targets have ranged from liberal comsymps to President Bill Clinton to, most recently, "illegal aliens" and their allies in the "open borders lobby." Throughout, the Times has served as a major key on the conservative movement's Mighty Wurlitzer.

A nasty succession battle is now heating up at the paper, punctuated by allegations of racism, sexism and unprofessional conduct, that has implications far beyond its fractious newsroom. According to several reliable inside sources, Preston Moon, the youngest son of Korean Unification Church leader and Times financier Sun Myung Moon, has initiated a search committee to find a replacement for editor in chief Wesley Pruden--a replacement who is not Pruden's handpicked successor, managing editor Francis Coombs.

Preston Moon wants to wrest control of the paper from Pruden and Coombs, according to a Times senior staffer, in order to shift the paper away from their brand of conservatism, which is characterized by extreme racial animus and connections to nativist and neo-Confederate organizations. A Harvard MBA, Preston Moon is said to be seeking to install an editorial regime with more widely palatable politics.

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20061009/washington_times

Moon...too right wing. The mind boggles.

[Dhalgren]

1. Wow! Preston's Ivy League diploma is already paying off!

He is smart enough to know that a truly successful right-wing propaganda machine has to look like a NYT or a WP. Gone are the days when wearing white sheets and waving a Confederate flag were seen as a good way to present a right-wing propaganda organ. Kudos to Preston!

[warrens]

2. I had the pleasure of helping to out one of their editors

The turkey gizzard was posting racist shit all over FRetard Republic. With pictures of him and his kids. The same pictures as on his personal website. Dumbass. He was a member of CCC and a whole lot of other racist groups.

My bet? The WT won't change at all. This is just window dressing, like when they hired some actual journalists, most of whom quit within a year.