Posted on 08/23/2010 6:22:51 PM PDT by markomalley
Again, there are rumblings that The Washington Times soon will shut its doors.
Local Web site DCRTV.com reported Monday that Preston Moon, son of the Rev. Sun Myung Moon who runs the paper, planned to break the news via press release on Friday that he planned to shutter the paper.
In DCRTV's report, the closure was halted due to a last-minute offer from an unknown bidder to purchase the conservative newspaper. Preston Moon and his family have long been fighting over the future of the former daily. DCRTV's unnamed source told the Web site that Preston Moon has had it with the paper and isn't interested in making a deal.
"It is now about showing Daddy Moon who has the bigger cajones," the source told DCRTV. "If this offer -- and it is a reasonable one -- is rejected, the paper could close its doors this week, just shy of 30 years in the nation's capital."
The source continues, "The paper has large debt load but there is a buyer. Normally, this would be a good thing for a seller. In the zany world of the Moon family, and the son's disregard for the family's wishes, it looks like the final edition is imminent."
The paper has downsized considerably because of economic difficulties. In December, the newspaper laid off several top editors, along with its entire sports section and several other reporters. It also stopped publishing the Sunday edition, and reduced the number of copies it prints.
Then, there's the controversy involving former editorial page editor Richard Miniter. He claims he was let go after he expressed concerns about being "coerced" to attend a mass wedding hosted by the Unification Church last year. He is suing the paper for discrimination and still has not reached a settlement.
Several calls and an e-mail to the Times' publicist were not returned.
That is a huge shame. For years, before the Internet was up and running, the Times was the only thing that kept the Wash Post half-way honest.
The Times ranks 97th in readership among US Papers and this is simple another indication that many other dinosaur papers will close.
You can find The Washington Post for sale in most DC/MD area grocery & convenience stores but not the Washington Times. Don’t know why that is. Their marketing effort has been very weak....they should have delivered free trial copies with advertising inserts. The profit margin for newspapers is not in the price of the paper, but in advertising.
DISTRIBUTION, DISTRIBUTION, DISTRIBUTION.
I didn’t renew my print subscription. Couldn’t justify $1 a copy to myself.
Apparently no one else has either.
There are very few two newspaper towns left in the country.
D.C. ain't one of them.
It’s always in stock at the drugstore I tend to frequent up in Maryland. If this is true, one of my co-workers, who buys a copy every morning, will be very unhappy.
Yep, from ‘82 forward to the mass use of the internet, TWT was the one bright light on the DC Metro media horizon. So sad. For years I LIVED for Wes Pruden on Politics columns.
I let my subscription to the Washington Times lapse after 18 years. It had become a mere ghost of its former self. The Washington Examiner has picked up the slack and it distributed free on the street.
I know very little about the Washington Times, but this is another indication of the death of the old media. If you do not change, you die.
That blog has a lot of postings announcing the death of the Washington Times — I guess some day maybe one of them will be right but so far they have all been wrong.
Jerry Seper is a great investigative journalist.
The Moonie thing was always kind of strange. I just ignored it and decided to judge the tree by it's fruit.
My sources at the paper say this report is wrong. Just more rumors. The Times is not closing Friday.
Oh, crap!
Maryland PING!
I used to purchase the Times paper copy all the time in the 90s and early 00s.
That's good to know. Is this just a case of Preston playing chicken with Sun Myung?
I’m hoping some of the writers can go over to the Washington Examiner.
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