Topic: Accuracy in Media
In a Nov. 3 Accuracy in Media blog post, Don Irvine writes about the repurchase of the Washington Times by Rev. Sun Myung Moon:
According to the Washington Post the Times had been receiving a $35 million subsidy in order to continue operating and when that was cut off the paper wasn’t able to survive in its current form. The new owners will also need a similar subsidy or cash infusion if they expect to rebuild the paper and pay its bills since advertising and circulation revenue will fall far short of the break even mark. And frankly I don’t know of any church that can provide this type of subsidy especially during a recession.
Irvine conveniently ignores the fact that the Times has never made money and that Moon's Unification Church has always subsidized it. The Washington Post reported in 2002 that Moon's operation had subsidized the Times to the tune of about $1.7 billion since the paper's founding in 1982.
It's silly for Irvine to pretend the Times' subsidy is something recent, especially given that we can't recall anyone at AIM being overly concerned about the subsidy before.
