Rumors are abounding in Washington DC, and taken national by Huffington Post, that conservative newspaper and Washington Post alternative Washington Times is once again near extinction. The paper, owned by Rev. Sun Myung Moon’s Unification Church, has never been a profit center and has been stripped down over the last year.
Local website DCRTV broke the rumor, which says that strife within the Moon family is a possible cause of the paper’s imminent demise, owing to children, notably Preston Moon, who no longer want anything to do with it. The threat of closure is said to be real even with a viable offer to buy the property on the table.
One of the more far out bits of speculation on the situation comes from the local alternative Washington City Paper’s Dave McKenna, who postulates that maybe the last minute offer is coming from Washington Redskins owner Dan Snyder (who also owns the Red Zebra radio group). McKenna spotted Snyder and other Redskin people at the Times table at a press function earlier in the year, and says not to rule Snyder out despite the fact that one of the many items cut by the paper in its belt-tightening was its sports section. McKenna says a good reason not to count Snyder out is his “track record of making horrible business decisions.”
No other speculators seem to have lit on a Snyder angle, however.
The newspaper was believed to be close to shutting down last year, but it drastically downsized and cut operational expenses instead.
