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{{Conservatism US}}
 
'''''The Washington Times''''' is an American [[Conservatism|conservative]]<ref name="Glaberson">{{cite news|last=Glaberson|first=William|date=June 27, 1994|title=Conservative Daily Tries to Expand National Niche|work=[[The New York Times]]|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/06/27/business/the-media-business-conservative-daily-tries-to-expand-national-niche.html|url-status=live|url-access=limited|access-date=January 30, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220111100818/https://www.nytimes.com/1994/06/27/business/the-media-business-conservative-daily-tries-to-expand-national-niche.html|archive-date=January 11, 2022|quote=The Washington Times, the conservative daily that is linked to the Rev. Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church}}</ref><ref name="Hall" /><ref name="Darcy.2018.cnn" /><ref name=":5" /> daily newspaper published in [[Washington, D.C.]] It covers general interest topics with an emphasis on [[Politics of the United States|national politics]]. Its [[broadsheet]] daily edition is distributed throughout Washington, D.C. and the greater [[Washington metropolitan area]], including suburban [[Maryland]] and [[Northern Virginia]]. It also publishes a subscription-based weekly [[tabloid (newspaper format)|tabloid]] edition aimed at a national audience.<ref>{{cite web |title=Subscribe: National Weekly – Washington Times |website=The Washington Times |url=http://www.washingtontimes.com/subscribe/national-weekly/ |access-date=October 2, 2020 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20160202061728/http://www.washingtontimes.com/subscribe/national-weekly/ |archive-date=February 2, 2016 |url-status=unfit}}</ref>
 
The first edition of ''The Washington Times'' was published on May 17, 1982. The newspaper was founded by [[Unification Church]] leader [[Sun Myung Moon]], and it was owned until 2010 by [[News World Communications]], an international media [[Conglomerate (company)|conglomerate]] founded by Moon. It is currently owned by Operations Holdings, which is a part of the Unification Church movement.<ref name=":22">{{Cite news|url=https://apnews.com/1d470c008efe41e2bd0777173c246f36/washington-times-reports-first-profitable-month|title=The Washington Times reports first profitable month|date=October 15, 2015|access-date=February 7, 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160307164110/http://bigstory.ap.org/article/1d470c008efe41e2bd0777173c246f36/washington-times-reports-first-profitable-month|archive-date=March 7, 2016|work=[[Associated Press]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.operationsholdings.com/about-us/|title=Operations Holdings Inc. – About Us|publisher=Operations Holdings|access-date=March 19, 2018|archive-date=July 18, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180718205913/http://www.operationsholdings.com/about-us/|url-status=live}}</ref>
 
''The Washington Times'' has been known for its conservative political stance,<ref name="Glaberson" /><ref name="Hall"/><ref name="Darcy.2018.cnn"/><ref name=":5"/>often supporting the policies of [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] presidents [[Ronald Reagan]], [[George H. W. Bush]], [[George W. Bush]], and [[Donald Trump]].<ref name="Goodman">{{Cite news|last=Goodman|first=Walter|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/01/21/news/review-television-sun-myung-moon-changes-robes.html|title=Review/Television; Sun Myung Moon Changes Robes|date=January 21, 1992|periodical=[[The New York Times]]|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190409160211/https://www.nytimes.com/1992/01/21/news/review-television-sun-myung-moon-changes-robes.html|archive-date=April 9, 2019|author-link=Walter Goodman (critic)|url-access=limited}}</ref><ref name="Boot 2018 124">{{Cite book|last=Boot|first=Max|title=The Corrosion of Conservatism: Why I Left the Right|publisher=Liveright Publishing|year=2018|isbn=9781631495670|page=124|chapter=The Cost of Capitulation|lccn=2018036979|author-link=Max Boot}}</ref> Reagan was a daily reader of ''The Washington Times''.<ref name="Behind the Times" />
 
*''The {{CiteWashington news|last=Nyhan|first=Brendan|url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/pundits-blame-the-victims_b_692327|title=PunditsTimes'' Blamehas thepublished Victimscolumns oncontradicting Obama Muslim Myth|date=August 24, 2010|work=[[Thescientific Huffington Postconsensus]]|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130914230619/https://www.huffingtonpost.com/brendan-nyhan/pundits-blame-the-victims_b_692327.html|archive-date=September 14,on multiple 2013|author-link=Brendanenvironmental Nyhan}}</ref><refand name=":4">{{Citehealth news|last=Blake|first=Mariah|url=https://archivesissues.cjr.org/united_states_project/the_washington_times_takes_a_b.php|title=''The WashingtonIt Times''has takesdrawn acontroversy giantby step—backwards|date=Februarypublishing 11, 2013|work=[[Columbia Journalismconspiracy Reviewtheories]]|access-date=June 29,about 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://archiveU.today/20200428214735/https://archivesS.cjr.org/united_states_project/the_washington_times_takes_a_b.php|archive-date=April 28,president 2020}}</ref>[[Barack Obama]] and supporting [[Neo-Confederates|neo-confederate]] historical revisionism.<ref>{{Cite magazine|last1=Beirich|first1=Heidi|last2=Moser|first2=Bob|date=August 15, 2003|title=The Washington Times Pushes Extremist, Neo-Confederate Ideas|url=https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2003/washington-times-pushes-extremist-neo-confederate-ideas|magazine=[[Southern Poverty Law Center#Intelligence Report|Intelligence Report]]|publisher=Southern Poverty Law Center|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160310165735/https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2003/washington-times-pushes-extremist-neo-confederate-ideas|archive-date=March 10, 2016|access-date=April 28, 2020|url-status=live}}</ref>{{toc limit|3}}
The newspaper has published columns contradicting [[scientific consensus]] on multiple environmental and health issues.<ref name="Playing Climate-Change Telephone">{{Cite magazine|last=Beilinson|first=Jerry|url=https://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/playing-climate-change-telephone|title=Playing Climate-Change Telephone|date=April 29, 2014|magazine=[[The New Yorker]]|access-date=May 22, 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170720091815/https://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/playing-climate-change-telephone|archive-date=July 20, 2017}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite web|url=https://climatefeedback.org/evaluation/tom-harris-deceptive-temperature-record-claims/|title=Analysis of "Deceptive temperature record claims"|date=August 28, 2015|publisher=[[Climate Feedback]]|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200408055834/https://climatefeedback.org/evaluation/tom-harris-deceptive-temperature-record-claims/|archive-date=April 8, 2020|access-date=May 22, 2018}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite news|last=Hiltzik|first=Michael|url=https://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-mh-attack-on-climate-change-scientists-20151204-column.html|title=The attack on climate change scientists continues in Washington|date=December 4, 2015|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160724231236/https://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-mh-attack-on-climate-change-scientists-20151204-column.html|archive-date=July 24, 2016|author-link=Michael Hiltzik|url-access=limited}}</ref><ref name="handful">{{Cite book|last1=Oreskes|first1=Naomi|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fpMh3nh3JI0C|title=Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming|last2=Conway|first2=Erik M.|publisher=Bloomsbury Press|year=2010|isbn=9781608192939|pages=130–135|chapter=Constructing a Counternarrative: The Fight over the Ozone Hole|lccn=2009043183|author-link=Naomi Oreskes|author-link2=Erik M. Conway|access-date=December 29, 2018|archive-date=May 16, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200516171645/https://books.google.com/books?id=fpMh3nh3JI0C|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="myths">{{Cite news|last=Singer|first=Fred|url=http://www.independent.org/news/article.asp?id=2715|title=Anthology of 1995's Environmental Myths|date=1995|newspaper=The Washington Times|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.today/20181229193017/http://www.independent.org/news/article.asp?id=2715|archive-date=December 29, 2018|via=the [[Independent Institute]]}}</ref><ref name="inq climate">{{Cite book|last=Powell|first=James Lawrence|url=http://cup.columbia.edu/book/the-inquisition-of-climate-science/9780231157193|title=The Inquisition of Climate Science|publisher=Columbia University Press|year=2011|isbn=9780231527842|pages=57, 198|chapter=Tobacco Tactics: The Scientist-Deniers|lccn=2011018611|author-link=James L. Powell|access-date=December 29, 2018|archive-date=May 25, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190525020933/https://cup.columbia.edu/book/the-inquisition-of-climate-science/9780231157193|url-status=live}}</ref> It has drawn controversy by publishing [[conspiracy theories]] about U.S. president [[Barack Obama]]<ref name="Obama">
* {{Cite news|last=Swan|first=Betsy|url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/cruzs-cozy-ties-to-dcs-most-prominent-paranoid-islamophobe|title=Cruz's Cozy Ties To DC's Most Prominent, Paranoid Islamophobe|date=December 15, 2015|newspaper=[[The Daily Beast]]|access-date=May 22, 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://archive.today/20200428222736/https://www.thedailybeast.com/cruzs-cozy-ties-to-dcs-most-prominent-paranoid-islamophobe|archive-date=April 28, 2020|author-link=Betsy Woodruff Swan}}
* {{Cite news|last=Bump|first=Philip|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/12/08/meet-frank-gaffney-the-anti-muslim-gadfly-who-produced-donald-trumps-anti-muslim-poll/|title=Meet Frank Gaffney, the anti-Muslim gadfly reportedly advising Donald Trump's transition team|date=November 16, 2016|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|access-date=May 22, 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://archive.today/20160723154428/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/12/08/meet-frank-gaffney-the-anti-muslim-gadfly-who-produced-donald-trumps-anti-muslim-poll/|archive-date=July 23, 2016|url-access=limited}}
* {{Cite news|last=Clifton|first=Eli|url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2015/12/08/donald-trump-frank-gaffney-islamophobia-poll/|title=Meet Donald Trump's Islamophobia Expert|date=December 8, 2015|work=[[Foreign Policy]]|access-date=May 22, 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://archive.today/20160315145247/http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/12/08/donald-trump-frank-gaffney-islamophobia-poll/|archive-date=March 15, 2016}}
* {{Cite news|last=Schlesinger|first=Robert|url=https://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/robert-schlesinger/2009/06/09/the-nutty-obama-is-a-muslim-charge-is-back-now-with-a-hitler-comparison|title=The Nutty 'Obama Is a Muslim' Charge Is Back (Now With a Hitler Comparison!)|date=June 9, 2009|work=[[U.S. News & World Report]]|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140719120554/https://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/robert-schlesinger/2009/06/09/the-nutty-obama-is-a-muslim-charge-is-back-now-with-a-hitler-comparison|archive-date=July 19, 2014|author-link=Robert Schlesinger}}
* {{Cite news|last=Nyhan|first=Brendan|url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/pundits-blame-the-victims_b_692327|title=Pundits Blame the Victims on Obama Muslim Myth|date=August 24, 2010|work=[[The Huffington Post]]|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130914230619/https://www.huffingtonpost.com/brendan-nyhan/pundits-blame-the-victims_b_692327.html|archive-date=September 14, 2013|author-link=Brendan Nyhan}}</ref><ref name=":4">{{Cite news|last=Blake|first=Mariah|url=https://archives.cjr.org/united_states_project/the_washington_times_takes_a_b.php|title=''The Washington Times'' takes a giant step—backwards|date=February 11, 2013|work=[[Columbia Journalism Review]]|access-date=June 29, 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://archive.today/20200428214735/https://archives.cjr.org/united_states_project/the_washington_times_takes_a_b.php|archive-date=April 28, 2020}}</ref> and supporting [[Neo-Confederates|neo-confederate]] historical revisionism.<ref>{{Cite magazine|last1=Beirich|first1=Heidi|last2=Moser|first2=Bob|date=August 15, 2003|title=The Washington Times Pushes Extremist, Neo-Confederate Ideas|url=https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2003/washington-times-pushes-extremist-neo-confederate-ideas|magazine=[[Southern Poverty Law Center#Intelligence Report|Intelligence Report]]|publisher=Southern Poverty Law Center|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160310165735/https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2003/washington-times-pushes-extremist-neo-confederate-ideas|archive-date=March 10, 2016|access-date=April 28, 2020|url-status=live}}</ref>{{toc limit|3}}
 
==History==
===1980s===
[[File:The Washington Times headquarters on New York Ave. NE in Washington, D.C.jpg|thumb|The headquarters of ''The Washington Times'' on [[New York Avenue (Washington, D.C.)|New York Avenue]] NE in [[Washington, D.C.]]]]
''The Washington Times'' was founded May 17, 1982, by [[News World Communications]], a [[New York City]]-based international media [[conglomerate (company)|conglomerate]] associated with the [[Unification movement|Unification Church]], which also owns [[United Press International]] (UPI) and newspapers in [[Japan]], [[South America]], and [[South Korea]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/05/18/us/around-the-nation-sun-myung-moon-paper-appears-in-washington.html|title=Sun Myung Moon Paper Appears in Washington|date=May 18, 1982|work=[[The New York Times]]|url-status=live|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120630093619/http://www.nytimes.com/1982/05/18/us/around-the-nation-sun-myung-moon-paper-appears-in-washington.html|archive-date=June 30, 2012|url-access=limited|access-date=February 13, 2017}}</ref> [[Bo Hi Pak]], chief aide to Unification Church founder and leader [[Sun Myung Moon]], was the founding president and founding chairman of the board.<ref>Pak was founding president of The Washington Times Corporation (1982–1992), and founding chairman of the board. [[Bo Hi Pak]], Appendix B: Brief Chronology of the Life of Dr. Bo Hi Pak, in ''Messiah: My Testimony to Rev. Sun Myung Moon, Vol I'' by Bo Hi Pak (2000), Lanham, MD: University Press of America.</ref>
 
[[Bo Hi Pak]], chief aide to Unification Church founder and leader [[Sun Myung Moon]], was the founding president and founding chairman of the board.<ref>Pak was founding president of The Washington Times Corporation (1982–1992), and founding chairman of the board. [[Bo Hi Pak]], Appendix B: Brief Chronology of the Life of Dr. Bo Hi Pak, in ''Messiah: My Testimony to Rev. Sun Myung Moon, Vol I'' by Bo Hi Pak (2000), Lanham, MD: University Press of America.</ref> Moon asked [[Richard L. Rubenstein]], a [[rabbi]] and college professor who had written on the [[Holocaust]], to serve on the board of directors.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Rabbi Joins the Board of Moonie Newspaper|date=May 21, 1982|work=[[The Palm Beach Post]]}}</ref> The newspaper's first editor and publisher was [[James R. Whelan]].<ref>{{Cite news|last=Weber|first=Bruce|date=December 3, 2012|title=James R. Whelan, First Editor of The Washington Times, Dies at 79|language=en-US|work=[[The New York Times]]|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/04/business/james-r-whelan-first-editor-of-the-washington-times-dies-at-79.html|access-date=September 17, 2020|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=May 23, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200523013212/https://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/04/business/james-r-whelan-first-editor-of-the-washington-times-dies-at-79.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
 
''The Washington Times'' was founded one year after ''[[The Washington Star]]'', a [[Washington, D.C.]] daily newspaper, went out of business, leaving the city with only daily newspaper, ''[[The Washington Post]]'' as its only daily newspaper. A large percentage of the newspaper's news staff came from the ''Star''.
 
Unusual among daily newspapers when ''The Washington Times'' was founded, the newspaper published full color front pages in all its sections and color elements throughout. It also used ink that it advertised as being less likely to come off on the reader's hands than the type used by ''The Washington Post''.<ref name="'70s 146">{{cite book|last=Frum|first=David|url=https://archive.org/details/howwegothere70sd00frum/page/146|title=How We Got Here: The 70's|publisher=Basic Books|year=2000|isbn=978-0-465-04195-4|location=New York City|page=146|chapter=God Moves to Dallas|lccn=00271770|author-link=David Frum|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/howwegothere70sd00frum/page/146|url-access=registration}}</ref> At its start, it had 125 reporters, 25 percent of whom were members of the [[Unification Church of the United States]].<ref>{{Cite news|last=Bumiller|first=Elisabeth|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/cult/unification/wtimes.htm|title=The Nation's Capital Gets A New Daily Newspaper|date=May 17, 1982|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080906184720/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/cult/unification/wtimes.htm|archive-date=September 6, 2008|page=C01|author-link=Elisabeth Bumiller}}</ref>
 
U.S. presidentPresident [[Ronald Reagan]] read ''The Washington Times'' every day during his presidency.<ref name="Behind the Times">{{Cite web|url=https://fair.org/extra/behind-the-times/|title=Behind the Times|last=Clarkson|first=Fred|date=August–September 1987|publisher=[[Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting]]|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060214004725/http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=1569|archive-date=February 14, 2006}}</ref> In 1997, he said: "The American people know the truth. You, my friends at ''The Washington Times'', have told it to them. It wasn't always the popular thing to do. But you were a loud and powerful voice. Like me, you arrived in Washington at the beginning of the most momentous decade of the century. Together, we rolled up our sleeves and got to work. And—oh, yes—we won the [[Cold War]]."<ref name="Dear Leader's Paper Moon">{{Cite news|last=Gorenfeld|first=John|url=https://prospect.org/features/dear-leader-s-paper-moon/|title=Dear Leader's Paper Moon|date=June 19, 2005|work=[[The American Prospect]]|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120328090910/http://prospect.org/article/dear-leaders-paper-moon|archive-date=March 28, 2012}}</ref>
 
After a brief editorship under [[Smith Hempstone]], [[Arnaud de Borchgrave]], a former UPI and ''[[Newsweek]]'' reporter, became executive editor, serving from 1985 to 1991.<ref name="Gamarekian">{{cite news|last=Gamarekian|first=Barbara|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/05/18/us/washington-times-editor-resigns-but-will-stay-on-to-write-articles.html|title=''Washington Times'' Editor Resigns, But Will Stay On to Write Articles|date=May 18, 1991|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150525230439/https://www.nytimes.com/1991/05/18/us/washington-times-editor-resigns-but-will-stay-on-to-write-articles.html|archive-date=May 25, 2015|url-access=limited}}</ref> Borchgrave was credited with encouraging energetic reporting by staff but was known to make unorthodox journalistic decisions. During his tenure, ''The Washington Times'' mounted a fundraising drive for [[Contras|Contra]] rebels in [[Nicaragua]] and offered rewards for information leading to the arrest of [[List of Axis personnel indicted for war crimes|Nazi war criminals]].<ref>{{Cite news|last=Roberts|first=Sam|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/17/business/media/arnaud-de-borchgrave-a-journalist-whose-life-was-a-tale-itself-dies-at-88.html|title=Arnaud de Borchgrave, Journalist Whose Life Was a Tale Itself, Dies at 88|date=February 16, 2015|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=March 11, 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191030080029/https://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/17/business/media/arnaud-de-borchgrave-a-journalist-whose-life-was-a-tale-itself-dies-at-88.html|archive-date=October 30, 2019|author-link=Sam Roberts (newspaper journalist)|url-access=limited}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Langer|first=Emily|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/arnaud-de-borchgrave-swashbuckling-newsweek-foreign-correspondent-dies/2015/02/15/52609204-b552-11e4-a200-c008a01a6692_story.html|title=Arnaud de Borchgrave, swashbuckling Newsweek foreign correspondent, dies|date=February 15, 2015|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|url-status=live|archive-url=https://archive.today/20200428225436/https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/arnaud-de-borchgrave-swashbuckling-newsweek-foreign-correspondent-dies/2015/02/15/52609204-b552-11e4-a200-c008a01a6692_story.html|archive-date=April 28, 2020|url-access=limited|access-date=May 23, 2018}}</ref>
Line 87 ⟶ 82:
In 1991, Moon said he had spent between $900 million and $1 billion on ''The Washington Times''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.unification.net/1991/911223.html|title=Reverend Sun Myung Moon Speaks on Our Mission During the Time of World Transition|last=Anderson|first=Damian|date=December 23, 1991|website=Unification.net|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190218021945/https://www.unification.net/1991/911223.html|archive-date=February 18, 2019|access-date=July 1, 2013}}</ref> By 2002, Moon had spent between $1.7 billion and $2 billion, according to different estimates.<ref name="Moon Speech"/><ref name="wash-chinni.asp2" />
 
[[Wesley Pruden]], previously a correspondent and then a [[managing editor]] of ''The Washington Times'', was named executive editor in 1991.<ref name=":18">{{Cite news|last=Freedman|first=Allan|url=http://archives.cjr.org/year/95/2/times.asp|title=Washington's Other Paper|date=March–April 1995|work=[[Columbia Journalism Review]]|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.today/20040223081524/http://archives.cjr.org/year/95/2/times.asp|archive-date=February 23, 2004}}</ref> During his editorship, the paper took a strongly [[Conservatism in the United States|conservative]] and [[Nativism (politics)|nativist]] editorial stance.<ref name=":4">{{Cite news |last=Blake |first=Mariah |date=February 11, 2013 |title=''The Washington Times'' takes a giant step—backwards |url=https://archives.cjr.org/united_states_project/the_washington_times_takes_a_b.php |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20200428214735/https://archives.cjr.org/united_states_project/the_washington_times_takes_a_b.php |archive-date=April 28, 2020 |access-date=June 29, 2018 |work=[[Columbia Journalism Review]]}}</ref>
 
In 1992, [[North Korea]]n leader [[Kim Il Sung]] gave his first and only interview with the Western news media to ''The Washington Times'' reporter [[Josette Sheeran]], who later became executive director of the [[United Nations World Food Programme]].<ref>{{Cite news|last=Rosenthal|first=Elisabeth|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/11/world/americas/11sheeran.html|title=A Desire to Feed the World and Inspire Self-Sufficiency|date=August 11, 2007|work=[[The New York Times]]|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190423150231/https://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/11/world/americas/11sheeran.html%3Fpagewanted%3Dall|archive-date=April 23, 2019|author-link=Elisabeth Rosenthal|url-access=limited}}</ref> At the time, ''The Washington Times'' had one-eighth the circulation of ''The Washington Post'' (100,000 compared to 800,000) and two-thirds of its subscribers subscribed to both papers.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Jones|first=Alex S.|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/01/27/business/the-media-business-washington-times-moves-to-reinvent-itself.html|title=The Media Business; Washington Times Moves to Reinvent Itself|date=January 27, 1992|work=[[The New York Times]]|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160101191045/https://www.nytimes.com/1992/01/27/business/the-media-business-washington-times-moves-to-reinvent-itself.html|archive-date=January 1, 2016|author-link=Alex Jones (journalist)|url-access=limited}}</ref> In 1994, it introduced a weekly national edition, which was published in a [[tabloid (newspaper format)|tabloid]] format and distributed nationally.<ref name="nyt1994">{{Cite news|last=William|first=Glaberson|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/06/27/business/the-media-business-conservative-daily-tries-to-expand-national-niche.html|title=The Media Business; Conservative Daily Tries to Expand National Niche|date=June 27, 1994|work=[[The New York Times]]|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306200853/http://www.nytimes.com/1994/06/27/business/the-media-business-conservative-daily-tries-to-expand-national-niche.html|archive-date=March 6, 2016|url-access=limited}}</ref>
 
U.S. President [[George H. W. Bush]] encouraged the political influence of ''The Washington Times'' and other Unification Church. movement activism in support of [[Foreign policy of the United States|American foreign policy]].<ref name="Goodman"/> In 1997, the ''[[Washington Report on Middle East Affairs]],'' which is critical of U.S. and [[Israel]]i policies, praised ''The Washington Times'' and its sister publication, ''[[News World Communications|The Middle East Times]]'', for what it called their objective and informative coverage of [[Islam]] and the [[Middle East]], while criticizing ''The Washington Times'' for its generally pro-Israel editorial positions. The ''Report'' suggested that these newspapers and ''[[The Christian Science Monitor]]'', each owned by religious institutions, were less influenced by pro-Israel pressure groups than corporate-owned newspapers.<ref>[http://www.wrmea.com/backissues/1297/9712060.html As U.S. Media Ownership Shrinks, Who Covers Islam?] {{webarchive |url=http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20050421165328/http://www.wrmea.com/backissues/1297/9712060.html |date=April 21, 2005 }}, ''[[Washington Report on Middle East Affairs]]'', December 1997</ref>
 
===2000s===
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===2010s===
[[File:2008 07 The Washington Times newsroom 02.jpg|thumb|''The Washington Times'' newsroom]]
In July 2010, the Unification Church issued a letter protesting the direction ''The Washington Times'' was taking and urging closer ties with it.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.poynter.org/reporting-editing/2010/unification-church-ceo-others-respond-to-unsigned-blog-post-about-washington-times/|title=Unification Church CEO, others respond to unsigned blog post about Washington Times|last=Romenesko|first=Jim|author-link=Jim Romenesko|date=July 22, 2010|via=the [[Poynter Institute]]|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100724054956/http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=45&aid=187388|archive-date=July 24, 2010}}</ref> In August 2010, a deal was made to sell it to a group more closely related to the movement. Editor-in-chief [[Sam Dealey]] said that this was a welcome development among the ''Times''{{'}} staff.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/25/business/media/25times.html|title=Deal in Works for The Washington Times|date=August 25, 2010|work=[[The New York Times]]|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170716160758/http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/25/business/media/25times.html|archive-date=July 16, 2017|agency=[[Associated Press]]|url-access=limited}}</ref>
 
In August 2010, a deal was made to sell it to a group more closely related to the movement. Editor-in-chief [[Sam Dealey]] said that this was a welcome development among the ''Times''{{'}} staff.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/25/business/media/25times.html|title=Deal in Works for The Washington Times|date=August 25, 2010|work=[[The New York Times]]|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170716160758/http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/25/business/media/25times.html|archive-date=July 16, 2017|agency=[[Associated Press]]|url-access=limited}}</ref>
 
In November 2010, Moon and a group of former editors purchased ''The Washington Times'' from News World Communications for $1. This ended a conflict within the Moon family that had been threatening to shut down the paper completely.<ref>{{cite news|last=Shapira|first=Ian|title=Moon group buys back ''Washington Times''|date=November 3, 2010|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|page=C1}}</ref> In June 2011, Ed Kelley, formerly of ''[[The Oklahoman]]'', was hired as editor overseeing both news and opinion content.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20181220033850/https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/washington-times-names-ed-kelley-as-editor-will-oversee-news-coverage-and-opinion-content/2011/06/10/AGP2gqOH_story.html ''Washington Times'' names Ed Kelley as editor; will oversee news coverage and opinion content], ''[[The Washington Post]]'', June 10, 2011</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2011/06/10/washington-times-names-ed-kelley-as-editor/|title=Washington Times Names Ed Kelley As Editor|date=June 10, 2011|access-date=April 28, 2020|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150909234311/https://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2011/06/10/washington-times-names-ed-kelley-as-editor/|archive-date=September 9, 2015|publisher=[[CBS Baltimore]]|agency=[[Associated Press]]}}</ref>
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In September 2013, Solomon returned as editor and vice president of content and business development.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/jul/8/solomon-returns-lead-content-business-strategies-w/|title=Solomon returns to lead content, business strategies at ''The Washington Times''|date=July 8, 2013|newspaper=The Washington Times|access-date=February 7, 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131121092826/http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/jul/8/solomon-returns-lead-content-business-strategies-w/|archive-date=November 21, 2013|url-access=limited}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://jimromenesko.com/2013/07/08/john-solomon-returns-to-the-washington-times/|title=John Solomon returns to ''The Washington Times''|last=Romenesko|first=Jim|author-link=Jim Romenesko|date=July 8, 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160423010844/http://jimromenesko.com/2013/07/08/john-solomon-returns-to-the-washington-times/|archive-date=April 23, 2016|access-date=April 7, 2016}}</ref> Solomon's tenure was marked by a focus on profitability.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Wemple|first=Erik|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/erik-wemple/wp/2015/12/07/john-solomon-leaves-washington-times-joins-circa-re-launch/|title=John Solomon leaves Washington Times, joins Circa re-launch|date=December 7, 2015|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160222134228/https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/erik-wemple/wp/2015/12/07/john-solomon-leaves-washington-times-joins-circa-re-launch/|archive-date=February 22, 2016|author-link=Erik Wemple|url-access=limited}}</ref>
 
In September 2015, the newspaper had its first profitable month, ending a streak of monthly financial losses over the paper's first 33 years.<ref name=":22">{{Cite news |date=October 15, 2015 |title=The Washington Times reports first profitable month |url=https://apnews.com/1d470c008efe41e2bd0777173c246f36/washington-times-reports-first-profitable-month |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160307164110/http://bigstory.ap.org/article/1d470c008efe41e2bd0777173c246f36/washington-times-reports-first-profitable-month |archive-date=March 7, 2016 |access-date=February 7, 2016 |work=[[Associated Press]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Harper|first=Jennifer|url=https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/oct/14/washington-times-reaches-profitability-after-33-ye/|title=''Washington Times'' reaches profitability after 33 years, $1 billion in losses|date=October 14, 2015|newspaper=The Washington Times|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161005065111/https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/oct/14/washington-times-reaches-profitability-after-33-ye/|archive-date=October 5, 2016|url-access=limited}}</ref> In December 2015, Solomon left for ''[[Circa News]]''.
 
''The Washington Times'' opinion editor [[Charles Hurt]] was one of Trump's earliest supporters in Washington, D.C.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Lowry|first=Rich|url=https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/07/the-trump-show-214075|title=The Trump Dynasty Takes Over the GOP|date=July 20, 2016|work=[[Politico Magazine]]|access-date=May 3, 2017|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161027122711/https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/07/the-trump-show-214075|archive-date=October 27, 2016|author-link=Rich Lowry}}</ref>
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===2020s===
In 2020, during the [[COVID-19 pandemic]], ''The Washington Times'' received between $1 million and $2 million in [[Federal government of the United States|federal]]-backed small business loans from [[Citibank]] as related of the [[Paycheck Protection Program]]. The Washington Times which it said helped retain of its 91 employees.<ref name="theh_Here">{{Cite web |title=Here are the major media companies that received coronavirus relief loans |author=James Bikales |work=[[The Hill (newspaper)|The Hill]] |date=July 6, 2020 |access-date=July 10, 2020 |url=https://thehill.com/homenews/media/506121-here-are-the-major-media-companies-that-received-coronavirus-relief-loans |archive-date=July 10, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200710235724/https://thehill.com/homenews/media/506121-here-are-the-major-media-companies-that-received-coronavirus-relief-loans |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="proj_THEW">{{Cite web |title=THE WASHINGTON TIMES LLC – Coronavirus Bailouts – ProPublica |last1=Syed |first1=Moiz |last2=Willis |first2=Derek |work=ProPublica |date=July 7, 2020 |access-date=July 10, 2020 |url=https://projects.propublica.org/coronavirus/bailouts/loans/the-washington-times-llc-8d41841196142db1e7c0c193013089df |archive-date=July 11, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200711220537/https://projects.propublica.org/coronavirus/bailouts/loans/the-washington-times-llc-8d41841196142db1e7c0c193013089df |url-status=live }}</ref> During the [[2024 United States presidential election|2024 presidential election]], ''The Washington Times'' endorsed Trump for election.<ref>''[[The Washington Post]]'', 2.8.2024</ref>
 
==Reactions==
In the 1980s, reporters for ''The Washington Times'' visited imprisoned then [[South African people|South African]] activist [[Nelson Mandela]], who wrote about the newspaper in his autobiography, ''[[Long Walk to Freedom]]''. He said, "They seemed less intent on finding out my views than on proving that I was a Communist and a terrorist. All of their questions were slanted in that direction, and when I reiterated that I was neither a Communist nor a terrorist, they attempted to show that I was not a Christian either by asserting that the Reverend [[Martin Luther King Jr.|Martin Luther King]] never resorted to violence."<ref name=":822"/><ref>{{Cite book|last=Mandela|first=Nelson|url=https://archive.org/stream/longwalktofreedo00mand#page/452/mode/2up|title=Long Walk to Freedom|publisher=Little, Brown and Company|year=1994|isbn=9780316545853|pages=453–454|lccn=94079980|author-link=Nelson Mandela|url-access=registration}}</ref>
 
''The Washington Times'' holds a [[Conservatism in the United States|conservative]] political stance.<ref name="Glaberson">{{cite news |last=Glaberson |first=William |date=June 27, 1994 |title=Conservative Daily Tries to Expand National Niche |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/06/27/business/the-media-business-conservative-daily-tries-to-expand-national-niche.html |url-access=limited |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220111100818/https://www.nytimes.com/1994/06/27/business/the-media-business-conservative-daily-tries-to-expand-national-niche.html |archive-date=January 11, 2022 |access-date=January 30, 2022 |work=[[The New York Times]] |quote=The Washington Times, the conservative daily that is linked to the Rev. Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church}}</ref><ref name="Hall">{{cite news|last=Hall|first=Mimi|date=March 22, 2001|title=Bush, aides boost access of conservative media|work=[[USA Today]]|url=https://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/politics/2001-03-22-media.htm|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130306060210/https://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/politics/2001-03-22-media.htm|archive-date=March 6, 2013|quote=Cheney talked to ''The Washington Times'', a much smaller newspaper known for its conservative tilt}}</ref><ref name="Darcy.2018.cnn">{{Cite news |last=Darcy |first=Oliver |date=March 27, 2018 |title=Seth Rich's brother sues right-wing activists, ''Washington Times'' over conspiracy theories |url=https://money.cnn.com/2018/03/27/media/seth-rich-brother-sues-washington-times/index.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180629183030/https://money.cnn.com/2018/03/27/media/seth-rich-brother-sues-washington-times/index.html |archive-date=June 29, 2018 |access-date=May 22, 2018 |publisher=[[CNN Money]] |pages=Unification Church |quote=...The Washington Times, a conservative newspaper...}}</ref><ref name=":5">{{Cite book |last=Shipoli |first=Erdoan A. |title=Islam, Securitization, and US Foreign Policy |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |year=2018 |isbn=9783319711102 |page=247 |chapter=Desecuritization and Resecuritization of Islam in US Foreign Policy: The Obama and the Trump Administrations Unification Church |doi=10.1007/978-3-319-71111-9 |lccn=2018935256}}</ref> In 1995, the ''[[Columbia Journalism Review]]'' wrote that ''The Washington Times'' "is like no major city daily in America in the way that it wears its political heart on its sleeve. No major paper in America would dare be so partisan."<ref name=":18" /> In 2002, ''[[The Washington Post]]'' reported that the newspaper "was established by Moon to [[Anti-communism|combat communism]] and be a conservative alternative to what Moon perceived as the [[Modern liberalism in the United States|liberal]] leanings of ''The Washington Post''. Since then, the paper has fought to prove its editorial independence, trying to demonstrate that it is neither a "Moonie paper" nor a booster of the political right but rather a fair and balanced reporter of the news."<ref name="Moon Speech" />
In 2002, ''[[The Washington Post]]'' reported that the newspaper "was established by Moon to [[Anti-communism|combat communism]] and be a conservative alternative to what Moon perceived as the [[Modern liberalism in the United States|liberal]] leanings of ''The Washington Post''. Since then, the paper has fought to prove its editorial independence, trying to demonstrate that it is neither a "Moonie paper" nor a booster of the political right but rather a fair and balanced reporter of the news."<ref name="Moon Speech" />
 
In October 2002, [[Benveteran Bradlee]],''Washington the veteranPost'' editor of ''[[TheBen Washington PostBradlee]]'', complimented ''The Washington Times'', saying, "I see them get some local stories that I think the ''Post'' doesn't have and should have had."<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Scott|first=Sherman|date=September–October 2002|title=Donald Graham's Washington Pos'|url=https://www.cjr.org/issues/2002/5/wash-stability.asp|magazine=[[Columbia Journalism Review]]|issue=5|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031124234138/https://www.cjr.org/issues/2002/5/wash-stability.asp|archive-date=November 24, 2003|access-date=March 19, 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref> In 2007, ''[[Mother Jones (magazine)|Mother Jones]]'' reported that ''The Washington Times'' had become "essential reading for political news junkies" soon after its founding, and described it as a "conservative newspaper with close ties to every Republican administration since Reagan."<ref>{{Cite news|last=Ridgeway|first=James|url=https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2007/04/bush-sr-celebrate-rev-sun-myung-moon-again/|title=Bush Sr. To Celebrate Rev. Sun Myung Moon – Again|date=April 27, 2007|work=[[Mother Jones (magazine)|Mother Jones]]|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131213043915/http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2007/04/bush-sr-celebrate-rev-sun-myung-moon-again|archive-date=December 13, 2013|author-link=James Ridgeway}}</ref>
 
In August 2008, in a ''[[Harper's (magazine)|Harper's]]'' essay, American historian<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/08012008/profile3.html|title=Bill Moyers interviews Thomas Frank|date=August 1, 2008|work=[[Bill Moyers Journal]]|publisher=[[PBS]]|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120618112157/https://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/08012008/profile3.html|archive-date=June 18, 2012|access-date=February 6, 2016}}</ref> [[Thomas Frank]] linked ''The Washington Times'' to the modern American conservative movement, saying: "There is even a daily newspaper—''The Washington Times''—published strictly for the movement's benefit, a [[propaganda]] sheet whose distortions are so obvious and so alien that it puts one in mind of those official party organs one encounters when traveling in [[authoritarianism|authoritarian]] countries."<ref>{{Cite magazine|last=Frank|first=Thomas|author-link=Thomas Frank|date=August 2008|title=The wrecking crew: How a gang of right-wing con men destroyed Washington and made a killing|url=https://harpers.org/archive/2008/08/the-wrecking-crew/|magazine=[[Harper's Magazine]]|pages=35–45|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171225130341/https://harpers.org/archive/2008/08/the-wrecking-crew/|archive-date=December 25, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>
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==Controversies==
{{overly detailed|section|date=January 2024}}
{{criticism section|date=January 2024}}
=== General controversies ===
Some former employees, including Whelan, have insisted that ''The Washington Times'' was always under Moon's control. Whelan, whose contract guaranteed editorial autonomy, left the paper in 1984 when the owners refused to renew his contract.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Rasky|first=Susan F.|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/07/23/us/ex-publisher-says-moon-church-ran-newspaper.html|title=Ex-Publisher Says Moon Church Ran Newspaper|date=July 23, 1984|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=June 20, 2014|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306133504/https://www.nytimes.com/1984/07/23/us/ex-publisher-says-moon-church-ran-newspaper.html|archive-date=March 6, 2016|author-link=Susan Rasky|url-access=limited}}</ref> Three years later, editorial page editor William P. Cheshire and four of his staff resigned, charging that, at the explicit direction of Sang Kook Han, a top official of the Unification Church, executive editor [[Arnaud de Borchgrave]] had stifled editorial criticism of political repression in South Korea under President [[Chun Doo-hwan]].<ref>{{Cite news|title=Five resign from Washington Times|date=April 15, 1987|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]}}</ref> In 1982, ''The Washington Times'' refused to publish film critic Scott Sublett's negative review of the movie ''[[Inchon (film)|Inchon]]'', which was also sponsored by the Unification Church.<ref name="romano">{{cite news|last=Romano|first=Lois|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1982/09/18/review-is-killed/1a499be1-0dd1-460b-896e-14f0a232b84d/|title=Review is Killed|date=September 18, 1982|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|url-status=live|archive-url=https://archive.today/20200429090116/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1982/09/18/review-is-killed/1a499be1-0dd1-460b-896e-14f0a232b84d/|archive-date=April 29, 2020|page=C1|author-link=Lois Romano|url-access=limited|access-date=April 29, 2020}}</ref>
 
In 1982, ''The Washington Times'' refused to publish film critic Scott Sublett's negative review of the movie ''[[Inchon (film)|Inchon]]'', which was also sponsored by the Unification Church.<ref name="romano">{{cite news|last=Romano|first=Lois|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1982/09/18/review-is-killed/1a499be1-0dd1-460b-896e-14f0a232b84d/|title=Review is Killed|date=September 18, 1982|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|url-status=live|archive-url=https://archive.today/20200429090116/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1982/09/18/review-is-killed/1a499be1-0dd1-460b-896e-14f0a232b84d/|archive-date=April 29, 2020|page=C1|author-link=Lois Romano|url-access=limited|access-date=April 29, 2020}}</ref>

In 1988, ''The Washington Times'' published a misleading story suggesting that Democratic presidential candidate [[Michael Dukakis]] had sought psychiatric help, and included a quote from Dukakis' sister-in-law saying "it is possible" he visited a psychiatrist. However, ''The Washington Times'' misleadingly clipped the full quote by the sister-in-law, which was: "It's possible, but I doubt it."<ref name=":18" /><ref>{{Cite news|last=Randolph|first=Eleanor|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1988/08/13/reporter-quits-over-dukakis-story/a20b4aae-a28c-4dff-85d0-e3bd5d359306/|title=Reporter Quits over Dukakis Story|date=August 13, 1988|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|url-status=live|archive-url=https://archive.today/20200429091512/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1988/08/13/reporter-quits-over-dukakis-story/a20b4aae-a28c-4dff-85d0-e3bd5d359306/|archive-date=April 29, 2020|url-access=limited|access-date=December 27, 2018}}</ref>

Reporter Peggy Weyrich quit in 1991 after one of her articles about [[Anita Hill]]'s testimony in the [[Clarence Thomas Supreme Court nomination|Clarence Thomas Supreme Court nominee hearings]] was rewritten to depict Hill as a "fantasizer".<ref name=":822"/>
 
During the presidency of [[Bill Clinton]] ''The Washington Times'' reporting on his alleged sex scandals was often picked up by other, more respected, news media which contributed to enhanced public awareness of the topic, and eventually to [[Impeachment of Bill Clinton|Clinton's impeachment]]. In 1999 the Senate voted to acquit Clinton, allowing him to complete his second term as president.<ref>{{cite book |last1=D'Antonio |first1=Michael |title=The Hunting of Hillary: The Forty-Year Campaign to Destroy Hillary Clinton |date=2020 |publisher=St. Martin's Publishing Group |isbn=978-1250154606 |page=288 |language=en-us}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| last=Glass| first=Andrew| title=House votes to impeach Clinton, Oct. 8, 1998| url=https://www.politico.com/story/2017/10/08/house-votes-to-impeach-clinton-oct-8-1998-243550| date=October 8, 2017| work=[[Politico]]| access-date=June 12, 2019| archive-date=September 28, 2020| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200928144724/https://www.politico.com/story/2017/10/08/house-votes-to-impeach-clinton-oct-8-1998-243550/| url-status=live}}</ref>
 
In a 1997 column in ''The Washington Times'', Frank Gaffney falsely alleged that a [[seismic]] incident in [[Russia]] was a nuclear detonation at that nation's [[Novaya Zemlya]] test site, which would have meant that Russia had violated the [[Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty]] (CTB).<ref name="bas222">{{cite journal|last1=Isaacs|first1=John|date=November–December 1997|title=Spinning to the Right|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vgwAAAAAMBAJ|journal=[[Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists]]|volume=53|issue=6|pages=14–15|doi=10.1080/00963402.1997.11456781|bibcode=1997BuAtS..53f..14I|access-date=July 22, 2016|via=Google Books|archive-date=January 7, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170107130554/https://books.google.com/books?id=vgwAAAAAMBAJ|url-status=live}}</ref> Subsequent scientific analysis of the Novaya Zemlya event showed that it was a routine [[earthquake]].<ref>{{cite web|last1=van der Vink|first1=Gregory|url=https://www.armscontrol.org/print/357|title=False Accusations, Undetected Tests and Implications for the CTB Treaty|date=May 1988|access-date=July 22, 2016|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180523100845/https://www.armscontrol.org/print/357|archive-date=May 23, 2018|publisher=[[Arms Control Association]]|last2=Park|first2=Jeffrey|last3=Allen|first3=Richard|last4=Wallace|first4=Terry|last5=Hennet|first5=Christel}}</ref> Reporting on the allegation, the ''[[Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists]]'' observed that following its publication: "[[fax machines]] around Washington, D.C. and across the country poured out pages detailing Russian duplicity. They came from Frank Gaffney." The ''Bulletin'' also noted that during the first four months of 1997, Gaffney had "issued more than 25 screeds" against the CTB.<ref name="bas222" />
 
In 2002, ''The Washington Times'' published a story accusing the [[National Educational Association]] (NEA), the largest teachers' [[Labor union|union]] in the United States, of teaching students that the policies of the U.S. government were partly responsible for the [[9/11|2001 terrorist attacks]] on the [[World Trade Center (1973–2001)|World Trade Center]].<ref name=":83">{{Cite news|last=Nyhan|first=Brendan|url=https://www.salon.com/2002/09/05/nea/|title=The big NEA-Sept. 11 lie|date=September 5, 2002|work=[[Salon (website)|Salon]]|access-date=December 24, 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924155932/https://www.salon.com/2002/09/05/nea/|archive-date=September 24, 2015|author-link=Brendan Nyhan}}</ref> The NEA responded to the story by denying all of its accusations.<ref name="The Boston Globe, 2002-09-022">{{cite news|last=Young|first=Cathy|url=http://cathyyoung.net/bgcolumns/2002/unfair.html|title=An unfair attack on teachers union|date=September 2, 2002|work=[[The Boston Globe]]|access-date=April 17, 2008|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150712162654/http://cathyyoung.net/bgcolumns/2002/unfair.html|archive-date=July 12, 2015|author-link=Cathy Young}}</ref><ref>{{cite press release|title=Letter to ''The Washington Times'' from NEA President|date=August 20, 2002|publisher=[[National Education Association]]|url=http://www.nea.org/nr/nr020820b.html|last=Chase|first=Bob|access-date=April 17, 2008|url-status = dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080517134505/http://www.nea.org/nr/nr020820b.html|archive-date=May 17, 2008}}</ref> [[Brendan Nyhan]], later a political science professor at the [[University of Michigan]], wrote that ''The Washington Times'' story was a "lie" and a "myth".<ref name=":83" />
 
In 2018, ''The Washington Times'' published a commentary piece by retired U.S. Navy admiral [[James Lyons (admiral)|James A. Lyons]] which promoted conspiracy theories about the [[murder of Seth Rich]]. Lyon wrote that it was "well known in intelligence circles that Seth Rich and his brother, Aaron Rich, downloaded the [[Democratic National Committee|DNC]] emails and was paid by [[WikiLeaks]] for that information."<ref name="Darcy.2018.cnn" /><ref name=":6" /> The piece cited no evidence for the assertion.<ref name="Darcy.2018.cnn" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite news|last=Eltagouri|first=Marwa|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/local/wp/2018/03/27/brother-of-slain-dnc-staffer-seth-rich-sues-right-wing-activists-newspaper-over-conspiracy-theories/|title=Brother of slain DNC staffer Seth Rich sues right-wing activists, newspaper over conspiracy theories|date=March 27, 2018|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|access-date=May 22, 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://archive.today/20190715225019/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/local/wp/2018/03/27/brother-of-slain-dnc-staffer-seth-rich-sues-right-wing-activists-newspaper-over-conspiracy-theories/?noredirect=on|archive-date=July 15, 2019|url-access=limited}}</ref> Aaron Rich filed a lawsuit against ''The Washington Times'', saying that it acted with "reckless disregard for the truth" and that it did not retract or remove the piece after "receiving notice of the falsity of the statements about Aaron after the publication".<ref name="Darcy.2018.cnn" /><ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite news|last=Darcy|first=Oliver|url=https://money.cnn.com/2018/05/21/media/seth-rich-brad-bauman-lawsuit/index.html|title=Former Seth Rich family spokesman files lawsuit against individuals, media outlet he says defamed him|date=May 21, 2018|access-date=May 22, 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190904234609/https://money.cnn.com/2018/05/21/media/seth-rich-brad-bauman-lawsuit/index.html|archive-date=September 4, 2019|publisher=[[CNN Money]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Anapol|first=Avery|url=https://thehill.com/homenews/media/380452-brother-of-slain-dnc-staffer-sues-washington-times-conservative-activists|title=Brother of slain DNC staffer sues Washington Times, conservative activists|date=March 27, 2018|work=[[The Hill (newspaper)|The Hill]]|access-date=May 22, 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180805095307/https://thehill.com/homenews/media/380452-brother-of-slain-dnc-staffer-sues-washington-times-conservative-activists|archive-date=August 5, 2018}}</ref> Rich and ''The Washington Times'' settled their lawsuit, and the paper issued an "unusually robust" retraction.<ref name=":6">{{cite news|last1=Darcy|first1=Oliver|url=https://money.cnn.com/2018/10/01/media/washington-times-aaron-rich/index.html|title=''The Washington Times'' settles lawsuit with Seth Rich's brother, issues retraction and apology for its coverage|date=October 1, 2018|access-date=October 1, 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190221115632/https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/01/media/washington-times-aaron-rich/index.html|archive-date=February 21, 2019|publisher=[[CNN Money]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/sep/30/retraction-aaron-rich-and-murder-seth-rich/|title=Retraction: Aaron Rich and the murder of Seth Rich|date=September 30, 2018|newspaper=The Washington Times|access-date=October 1, 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://archive.today/20181001142200/https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/sep/30/retraction-aaron-rich-and-murder-seth-rich/|archive-date=October 1, 2018|url-access=limited}}</ref>
 
On January 6, 2021, after violent pro-Trump rioters [[January 6 United States Capitol attack|attacked the United States Capitol]], ''The Washington Times'' published a false story quoting an unidentified retired military officer claiming that the [[facial recognition system]] company XRVision had used its technology and identified two members of [[Antifa (United States)|antifa]] amid the mob.<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Grynbaum |first1=Michael M. |last2=Alba |first2=Davey|author-link2=Davey Alba |last3=Epstein |first3=Reid J. |date=March 1, 2021 |title=How Pro-Trump Forces Pushed a Lie About Antifa at the Capitol Riot |language=en-US |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/01/us/politics/antifa-conspiracy-capitol-riot.html |url-access=limited |access-date=March 1, 2021 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20211228/https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/01/us/politics/antifa-conspiracy-capitol-riot.html |archive-date=December 28, 2021 |issn=0362-4331}}{{cbignore}}</ref> XRVision quickly denied this, sending a [[cease and desist]] to ''The Washington Times'', and issued a statement saying that its technology had actually identified two [[Neo-Nazism|Neo-Nazis]] and a believer in the [[QAnon|QAnon conspiracy theory]] and that it had not done any detection work for a retired military officer authorized to share that information. On January 7, the article was removed from the website and replaced with a corrected version.<ref name=":23">{{Cite news |last=Cox |first=Chelsey |date=January 8, 2021 |title=Fact check: False claim of facial recognition of antifa members during U.S. Capitol riot |work=[[USA Today]] |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2021/01/07/fact-check-false-claim-facial-recognition-antifa-capitol/6580679002/ |access-date=January 8, 2021}}</ref> Before the correction, Representative [[Matt Gaetz]] cited the original story as proof that antifa were partially responsible for the attack in the floor debate of the [[2021 United States Electoral College vote count]], and it was widely shared on social media.<ref name=":23" />
 
''The Washington Times'' has at least twice published articles, one written by the [[ambassador]] of [[Turkey]] to the USUnited States and one by an attorney and [[lobbyist]] for the Turkish government, that [[Armenian genocide denial|deny the Armenian genocide]].<ref name="journals.openedition.org">{{cite journal |last1=Zarifian |first1=Julien |title=The United States and the (Non-)Recognition of the Armenian Genocide |journal=Études arméniennes contemporaines |date=2013 |issue=1 |pages=75–95 |doi=10.4000/eac.361 |url=https://journals.openedition.org/eac/361?lang=en|doi-access=free }}</ref>
 
=== Science coverage ===
==== Climate change denial ====
''The Washington Times'' has promoted [[climate change denial]].<ref>{{Cite book|last1=McCright|first1=Aaron M.|title=The Oxford Handbook of Climate Change and Society|last2=Dunlap|first2=Riley E.|date=August 2011|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780199566600|editor-last=Dryzek|editor-first=John S.|editor-link=John Dryzek|series=Oxford Handbooks|page=152|chapter=Organized Climate Change Denial|doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199566600.003.0010|lccn=2011929381|editor-last2=Norgaard|editor-first2=Richard B.|editor-link2=Richard B. Norgaard|editor-last3=Schlosberg|editor-first3=David|editor-link3=David Schlosberg}}</ref><ref name=":20" /><ref name=":21" /><ref name="Playing Climate-Change Telephone">{{Cite magazine |last=Beilinson |first=Jerry |date=April 29, 2014 |title=Playing Climate-Change Telephone |url=https://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/playing-climate-change-telephone |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170720091815/https://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/playing-climate-change-telephone |archive-date=July 20, 2017 |access-date=May 22, 2018 |magazine=[[The New Yorker]]}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite web |date=August 28, 2015 |first=Emmanuel |last=Vincent |title=Analysis of "Deceptive temperature record claims" |url=https://science.feedback.org/review/tom-harris-deceptive-temperature-record-claims/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240916095727/https://science.feedback.org/review/tom-harris-deceptive-temperature-record-claims/ |archive-date=September 16, 2024 |access-date=September 16, 2024 |website=Science Feedback |publisher=[[Climate Feedback]]}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite news |last=Hiltzik |first=Michael |author-link=Michael Hiltzik |date=December 4, 2015 |title=The attack on climate change scientists continues in Washington |url=https://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-mh-attack-on-climate-change-scientists-20151204-column.html |url-access=limited |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160724231236/https://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-mh-attack-on-climate-change-scientists-20151204-column.html |archive-date=July 24, 2016 |work=[[Los Angeles Times]]}}</ref> [[Michael E. Mann]], director of the Earth System Science Center at [[Pennsylvania State University]], characterizes the ''The Washington Times'' as a prominent outlet that propagates "climate change disinformation".<ref name=":20">{{Cite book|last=Mann|first=Michael E.|title=[[The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars: Dispatches from the Front Lines]]|date=March 2012|publisher=Columbia University Press|isbn=9780231526388|page=64|chapter=The Origins of Denial|lccn=2011038813|author-link=Michael E. Mann}}</ref> [[Naomi Oreskes]], Professor of the History of Science at [[Harvard University]], and [[Erik M. Conway]], historian of science at [[NASA]]'s [[Jet Propulsion Laboratory]] at the [[California Institute of Technology]], wrote in their 2010 book ''[[Merchants of Doubt]]'' that the ''The Washington Times'' has given the public a false sense that the science of anthropogenic climate change was in dispute by giving disproportionate coverage of fringe viewpoints and by preventing scientists from rebutting coverage in the ''The Washingon Times''.<ref name=":21">{{Cite journal|last=Kitcher|first=Philip|author-link=Philip Kitcher|date=June 4, 2010|title=The Climate Change Debates|journal=[[Science (journal)|Science]]|volume=328|issue=5983|pages=1230–1234|bibcode=2010Sci...328.1230K|doi=10.1126/science.1189312|s2cid=154865206 |doi-access=}}</ref> ''The Washington Times'' reprinted a column by [[Steve Milloy]] criticizing research of [[climate change in the Arctic]] without disclosing Milloy's financial ties to the [[fossil fuel]] industry.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Oreskes|first1=Naomi|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fpMh3nh3JI0C|title=Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming|last2=Conway|first2=Erik M.|publisher=Bloomsbury Press|year=2010|isbn=9781608192939|page=247|chapter=Conclusion: Of Free Speech and Free Markets|lccn=2009043183|author-link=Naomi Oreskes|author-link2=Erik M. Conway|access-date=December 29, 2018|archive-date=May 16, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200516171645/https://books.google.com/books?id=fpMh3nh3JI0C|url-status=live}}</ref>
 
During the [[Climatic Research Unit email controversy]] (also known as "Climategate") in 2009 in the lead-up to the [[2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference|UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen]], the ''The Washington Times'' wrote in an editorial: "these revelations of fudged science should have a cooling effect on global-warming hysteria and the panicked policies that are being pushed forward to address the unproven theory."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://shorensteincenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/d72_mayer.pdf|title=Stories of Climate Change: Competing Narratives, the Media, and U.S. Public Opinion 2001–2010|last=Mayer|first=Frederick|date=February 2012|access-date=December 28, 2018|archive-date=May 17, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200517215037/https://shorensteincenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/d72_mayer.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> Eight committees investigated the controversy and found no evidence of fraud or scientific misconduct. In 2010, the ''The Washington Times'' published an article claiming that February 2010 snow storms "Undermin[e] The Case For Global Warming One Flake At A Time".<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/washington-times-february_n_455199|title=Washington Times: February Snow Storms "Undermin[e] The Case For Global Warming One Flake At A Time"|date=April 11, 2010|newspaper=[[The Huffington Post]]|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191002014355/https://www.huffpost.com/entry/washington-times-february_n_455199|archive-date=October 2, 2019}}</ref> A 2014 ''The Washington Times'' editorial mocked the "global warming scam" and asserted: "The planetary thermometer hasn't budged in 15 years. Wildfires, tornadoes, hurricanes and other 'extreme' weather events are at normal or below-normal levels. Pacific islands aren't submerged. There's so much ice the polar bears are celebrating."<ref name=":19">{{Cite journal|last=Corneliussen|first=Steven T.|date=July 1, 2014|title=News dispatches from the climate wars|journal=[[Physics Today]]|issue=7 |page=11671 |doi=10.1063/PT.5.8054|doi-access=|bibcode=2014PhT..2014g1671C }}</ref> The ''The Washington Times'' cited a blog post in support of these claims; [[PolitiFact]] fact-checked the claims in the blog post and concluded it was "pants-on-fire" false.<ref name=":19" /><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2014/jun/25/steve-doocy/foxs-doocy-nasa-fudged-data-make-case-global-warmi/|title=Fox's Doocy: NASA fudged data to make the case for global warming|last=Greenberg|first=Jon|date=June 25, 2014|publisher=[[PolitiFact]]|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190104190355/https://www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2014/jun/25/steve-doocy/foxs-doocy-nasa-fudged-data-make-case-global-warmi/|archive-date=January 4, 2019|access-date=April 29, 2020}}</ref> The ''The Washington Times'' later said that a NASA scientist claimed that global warming was on a "hiatus" and that NASA had found evidence of [[global cooling]]; Rebecca Leber of ''[[The New Republic]]'' said that the NASA scientist in question said the opposite of what the ''The Washington Times'' claimed.<ref>{{Cite magazine|last=Leber|first=Rebecca|url=https://newrepublic.com/article/119033/conservatives-misrepresent-climate-scientist|title=The Right-Wing Press' New Climate Change Lie|date=August 10, 2014|magazine=[[The New Republic]]|access-date=May 22, 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://archive.today/20200429064331/https://newrepublic.com/article/119033/conservatives-misrepresent-climate-scientist|archive-date=April 29, 2020}}</ref>

In 2015, it''The Washington Times'' published a column by CongressmanRepublican Texas congressman [[Lamar Smith]] in which he argued that the work of the [[National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration]] was "not good science, [but] science fiction." The [[American Association for the Advancement of Science]] and six other scientific organizations objected to Smith's politicalisation of scientific research saying: "Scientists should not be subjected to fraud investigations or harassment simply for providing scientific results that some may see as politically controversial. Science cannot thrive when policymakers—regardless of party affiliation—use policy disagreements as a pretext to attack scientific conclusions."<ref name=":3"/>
 
In 1993, ''The Washington Times'' published articles purporting to debunk climate change.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Stevens|first=William K.|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/09/14/science/scientists-confront-renewed-backlash-on-global-warming.html|title=Scientists Confront Renewed Backlash on Global Warming|date=September 14, 1993|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=December 28, 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190410203331/https://www.nytimes.com/1993/09/14/science/scientists-confront-renewed-backlash-on-global-warming.html|archive-date=April 10, 2019|url-access=limited}}</ref> It headlined its story about the [[1997 Kyoto Protocol]] on climate change: "Under the deal, the use of coal, oil and other fossil fuel in the United States would be cut by more than one-third by 2002, resulting in lower standards of living for consumers and a long-term reduction in economic growth."<ref name=":822">{{Cite book|last=Ritchie|first=Donald A.|chapter-url=https://archive.org/stream/reportingfromwas00ritc#page/262/mode/2up|title=Reporting from Washington: The History of the Washington Press Corps|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2005|isbn=9780195178616|pages=262–263|chapter=Company Town Papers|lccn=2004018892|chapter-url-access=registration}}</ref>
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==== Ozone depletion denial====
In the 1990s, ''The Washington Times'' published columns which cast doubt on the scientific consensus on the causes of [[ozone depletion]] (which had led to anthe "ozone hole"). It published columns disputing the science as late as 2000.<ref name="handful">{{Cite book |last1=Oreskes |first1=Naomi |author-link=Naomi Oreskes |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fpMh3nh3JI0C |title=Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming |last2=Conway |first2=Erik M. |author-link2=Erik M. Conway |publisher=Bloomsbury Press |year=2010 |isbn=9781608192939 |pages=130–135 |chapter=Constructing a Counternarrative: The Fight over the Ozone Hole |lccn=2009043183 |access-date=December 29, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200516171645/https://books.google.com/books?id=fpMh3nh3JI0C |archive-date=May 16, 2020 |url-status=live}}</ref> In 1991, NASA scientists warned of the potential of a major Arctic ozone hole developing in the spring of 1992 due to elevated levels of [[chlorine monoxide]] in the Arctic [[stratosphere]]. However, as the Arctic winter was unusually warm, the chemical reactions needed for ozone depletion did not occur. Even though the science was not incorrect, the ''The Washington Times'', along with other conservative media, subsequently created a "[[The boy who cried wolf|crying wolf]]" narrative, where scientists were portrayed as political activists who were following an environmental agenda rather than the science. In 1992, it published an editorial saying: "This is not the disinterested, objective, just-the-facts tone one ordinarily expects from scientists... This is the cry of the apocalyptic, laying the groundwork for a decidedly non-scientific end: public policy... it would be nice if the next time NASA cries 'wolf,' fewer journalists, politicians and citizens heed the warning like sheep."<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Brysse|first1=Keynyn|last2=Oreskes|first2=Naomi|author-link2=Naomi Oreskes|last3=o'Reilly|first3=Jessica|last4=Oppenheimer|first4=Michael|author-link4=Michael Oppenheimer|date=February 2013|title=Climate change prediction: Erring on the side of least drama?|url=http://www.phys.uri.edu/nigh/FFRI/LeastDrama.pdf|url-status=live|journal=[[Global Environmental Change]]|volume=23|issue=1|pages=327–337|doi=10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2012.10.008|bibcode=2013GEC....23..327B |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170809005641/http://www.phys.uri.edu/nigh/FFRI/LeastDrama.pdf|archive-date=August 9, 2017|via=the [[University of Rhode Island]]}}</ref>
 
==== Second-hand smoke denial====
In 1995, ''The Washington Times'' published a column by [[Fred Singer]], who is known for promoting views contrary to mainstream science on a number of issues, where Singer referred to the science on the adverse health impact of [[second-hand smoke]] as the "second-hand smoke scare" and accused the [[Environmental Protection Agency]] of distorting data when it classified second-hand smoke as harmful. Singer's column also denied the scientific consensus on climate change and on the health risks of exposure to environmental [[radiation]].<ref name="myths">{{Cite news |last=Singer |first=Fred |date=1995 |title=Anthology of 1995's Environmental Myths |url=http://www.independent.org/news/article.asp?id=2715 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20181229193017/http://www.independent.org/news/article.asp?id=2715 |archive-date=December 29, 2018 |newspaper=The Washington Times |via=the [[Independent Institute]]}}</ref><ref name="inq climate">{{Cite book |last=Powell |first=James Lawrence |author-link=James L. Powell |url=http://cup.columbia.edu/book/the-inquisition-of-climate-science/9780231157193 |title=The Inquisition of Climate Science |publisher=Columbia University Press |year=2011 |isbn=9780231527842 |pages=57, 198 |chapter=Tobacco Tactics: The Scientist-Deniers |lccn=2011018611 |access-date=December 29, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190525020933/https://cup.columbia.edu/book/the-inquisition-of-climate-science/9780231157193 |archive-date=May 25, 2019 |url-status=live}}</ref> In 1995, ''The Washington Times'' published an editorial titled "How not to spend science dollars" condemning a grant to the National Cancer Institute to study how political contributions from tobacco companies shape policy-making and the voting behavior of politicians.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Landman|first1=Anne|last2=Glantz|first2=Stanton A.|author-link2=Stanton Glantz|date=January 2009|title=Tobacco Industry Efforts to Undermine Policy-Relevant Research|journal=[[American Journal of Public Health]]|volume=99|issue=1|pages=45–58|doi=10.2105/AJPH.2007.130740|pmc=2600597|pmid=19008508}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.industrydocumentslibrary.ucsf.edu/tobacco/docs/#id=xkyk0101|title=How not to spend science dollars|date=May 28, 1995|newspaper=The Washington Times|page=B2|via=the [[University of California, San Francisco]]|access-date=December 29, 2018|archive-date=October 28, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161028200232/https://www.industrydocumentslibrary.ucsf.edu/tobacco/docs/#id=xkyk0101|url-status=live}}</ref>
 
====Controversial reporting on the COVID-19 pandemic====
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In 1995, Francis resigned or was forced out after [[Dinesh D'Souza]] reported on racist comments that Francis made at a conference hosted by ''[[American Renaissance (magazine)|American Renaissance]]'' the previous year.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Murphy|first=Paul V.|url=https://www.uncpress.org/book/9780807849606/the-rebuke-of-history|title=The Rebuke of History: The Southern Agrarians and American Conservative Thought|date=September 2001|publisher=University of North Carolina Press|isbn=9780807849606|page=247|lccn=2001027128|access-date=December 25, 2018|archive-date=December 26, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181226084423/https://www.uncpress.org/book/9780807849606/the-rebuke-of-history/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=":9" /><ref name=":10" /><ref name="Kurtz.1995.RW">{{Cite news |last=Kurtz |first=Howard |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1995/10/19/washington-times-clips-its-right-wing/dd009c93-883b-446c-bbbf-94c0a0570a1a/ |title=Washington Times Clips its Right Wing|date=October 19, 1995 |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20200429073257/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1995/10/19/washington-times-clips-its-right-wing/dd009c93-883b-446c-bbbf-94c0a0570a1a/ |archive-date=April 29, 2020 |author-link=Howard Kurtz |url-access=limited |access-date=December 24, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last1=Frantz|first1=Douglas|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/02/23/us/politics-on-the-move-buchanan-drawing-extremist-support-and-problems-too.html|title=Politics: On the Move; Buchanan Drawing Extremist Support, and Problems, Too|date=February 23, 1996|work=[[The New York Times]]|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181225130121/https://www.nytimes.com/1996/02/23/us/politics-on-the-move-buchanan-drawing-extremist-support-and-problems-too.html|archive-date=December 25, 2018|last2=Janofsky|first2=Michael|author-link=Douglas Frantz|url-access=limited}}</ref> At the conference, Francis called on whites to: "reassert our identity and our solidarity, and we must do so in explicitly racial terms through the articulation of a racial consciousness as whites... The civilization that we as whites created in Europe and America could not have developed apart from the genetic endowments of the creating people."<ref name="Kurtz.1995.RW" />
 
Francis was an aide to Republican senator [[John Porter East|John East]] of [[North Carolina]] before joining the editorial staff of ''The Washington Times'' in 1986.<ref name="Kurtz.1995.RW"/> Five years later, he became a columnist for the newspaper, and his column became syndicated.<ref name="Kurtz.1995.RW" /> In addition to his journalistic career, Francis was an adjunct scholar at the [[Ludwig von Mises Institute]] of [[Auburn, Alabama]].<ref>{{cite book|editor-last=Rockwell |editor-first=Llewellyn H. |title=Murray Rothbard, In Memoriam |date=August 18, 2014 |publisher=von Mises Institute |location=Auburn, AL |pages=64, 127 |url=https://mises.org/books/memoriam.pdf}}</ref>
 
In addition to his journalistic career, Francis was an adjunct scholar at the [[Ludwig von Mises Institute]] of [[Auburn, Alabama]].<ref>{{cite book|editor-last=Rockwell |editor-first=Llewellyn H. |title=Murray Rothbard, In Memoriam |date=August 18, 2014 |publisher=von Mises Institute |location=Auburn, AL |pages=64, 127 |url=https://mises.org/books/memoriam.pdf}}</ref>
 
In June 1995, editor-in-chief [[Wesley Pruden]] "had cut back on Francis' column" after ''The Washington Times'' ran his essay criticizing the [[Southern Baptist Convention]] for its approval of a resolution which apologized for [[slavery]].<ref>Timothy Stanley, ''The Crusader: The Life and Tumultuous Times of Pat Buchanan'' ([[New York City]]: [[St. Martin's Press]], 2012), p. 358; {{ISBN|978-0-312-58174-9}}</ref> In the piece, Francis asserted that "The contrition of the Southern Baptists for slavery and racism is a bit more than a politically fashionable gesture intended to massage race relations"<ref>Samuel T. Francis, "All those things to apologize for," ''The Washington Times'', June 27, 1995.</ref> and that "Neither slavery' nor racism' as an institution is a sin."<ref name="Kurtz.1995.RW" />
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=== Coverage of Barack Obama ===
In 2007 ''The Washington Times''{{'}} companion news magazine ''[[Insight on the News]]'', also called just ''Insight'', published a story which claimed that someone on the campaign staff of American presidential candidate Senator [[Hillary Clinton]] had leaked a report to one of ''Insight's'' reporters which said that Obama had "spent at least four years in a so-called madrassa, or Muslim seminary, in Indonesia".<ref name="Wapo 11-29-07">{{cite news|last=Bacon|first=Perry Jr.|title=Foes Use Obama's Muslim Ties to Fuel Rumors About Him|url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/28/AR2007112802757_2.html|date=November 29, 2007|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]}}</ref> ''Insight's'' editor, [[Jeff Kuhner]], also claimed that the source said that the Clinton campaign was "preparing an accusation that her rival Senator Barack Obama had covered up a brief period he had spent in an Islamic religious school in Indonesia when he was six." Clinton denied the allegations. When interviewed by the ''[[New York Times]]'', Kuhner refused to name the person said to be the reporter's source to the ''New York Times''.<ref name="International Herald Tribune">{{cite news | title=Anatomy of an anonymous political smear | date=January 29, 2007 | url =http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/01/29/news/rumor.php | work =International Herald Tribune | access-date = February 18, 2008 }}</ref>
 
''Insight's'' story was reported on first by conservative [[talk radio]] and ''[[Fox News Channel]]'', and then by ''The New York Times'' and other major newspapers.<ref name="International Herald Tribune"/> [[CNN]] reporter [[John Vause]] visited [[State Elementary School Menteng 01]], a secular [[Public school (government funded)|public school]] which Obama had attended for one year after attending a [[Roman Catholic]] school for three, and found that each student received two hours of religious instruction per week in his or her own faith. He was told by Hardi Priyono, deputy headmaster of the school, "This is a public school. We don't focus on religion. In our daily lives, we try to respect religion, but we don't give preferential treatment."<ref name="2007debunks-madrassa">{{cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/01/22/obama.madrassa/index.html|title=CNN debunks false report about Obama|work=[[CNN]]|date=January 22, 2007|access-date=January 26, 2007}}</ref> Students at Besuki wore Western clothing, and the ''[[Chicago Tribune]]'' described the school as "so progressive that teachers wore miniskirts and all students were encouraged to celebrate [[Christmas]]".<ref name="CBS News August 19">{{cite news|url=http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/04/09/politics/washingtonpost/main6379181.shtml |title=Indonesia Catholic School Promotes Ties to Obama |access-date=August 19, 2010 |date=August 19, 2010 |first=Andrew |last=Higgins |work=[[CBS News]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101116024343/http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/04/09/politics/washingtonpost/main6379181.shtml |archive-date=November 16, 2010 }}</ref><ref name="debunked">{{cite news|url=http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/chi-070325obama-islam-story-archive,0,3358809.story|title=Obama madrassa myth debunked|last=Barker|first=Kim|date=March 25, 2007|work=[[Chicago Tribune]]|access-date=September 4, 2010}}</ref><ref name="wahabi">{{cite news |publisher=[[PolitiFact.com]] |url=http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2007/dec/20/chain-email/obama-attended-an-indonesian-public-school/ |title=Obama attended an Indonesian public school |date=December 20, 2007 |access-date=March 8, 2010}}</ref> Interviews by [[Nedra Pickler]] of the [[Associated Press]] found that students of all faiths have been welcome there since before Obama's attendance. Akmad Solichin, the vice principal of the school, told Pickler: "The allegations are completely baseless. Yes, most of our students are Muslim, but there are Christians as well. Everyone's welcome here ... it's a public school."<ref>{{cite news|title=Obama challenges allegation about Islamic school |first=Nedra |last=Pickler |url=http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/politics/20070124-1317-obama-2008.html |work=[[The San Diego Union-Tribune]] |date=January 24, 2007 |access-date=February 10, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080517100058/http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/politics/20070124-1317-obama-2008.html |archive-date=May 17, 2008 }}</ref>
 
In 2008, ''The Washington Times'' published a column by Frank Gaffney that promoted the false [[Barack Obama citizenship conspiracy theories|conspiracy theories which asserted that President Barack Obama was born in Kenya]] and was courting the "[[Jihadism|jihadist]] vote". Gaffney also published pieces in 2009 and 2010 promoting the false assertion that [[Barack Obama religion conspiracy theories|Obama is a Muslim]].<ref name="Obama"/>* {{Cite news |last=Swan |first=Betsy |author-link=Betsy Woodruff Swan |date=December 15, 2015 |title=Cruz's Cozy Ties To DC's Most Prominent, Paranoid Islamophobe |url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/cruzs-cozy-ties-to-dcs-most-prominent-paranoid-islamophobe |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20200428222736/https://www.thedailybeast.com/cruzs-cozy-ties-to-dcs-most-prominent-paranoid-islamophobe |archive-date=April 28, 2020 |access-date=May 22, 2018 |newspaper=[[The Daily Beast]]}}
* {{Cite news |last=Bump |first=Philip |date=November 16, 2016 |title=Meet Frank Gaffney, the anti-Muslim gadfly reportedly advising Donald Trump's transition team |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/12/08/meet-frank-gaffney-the-anti-muslim-gadfly-who-produced-donald-trumps-anti-muslim-poll/|title=Meet Frank Gaffney, the anti-Muslim gadfly reportedly advising Donald Trump's transition team|date=November 16, 2016|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|url-access-date=Maylimited 22, 2018|url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20160723154428/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/12/08/meet-frank-gaffney-the-anti-muslim-gadfly-who-produced-donald-trumps-anti-muslim-poll/ |archive-date=July 23, 2016 |url-access-date=limitedMay 22, 2018 |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]}}
* {{Cite news |last=Clifton |first=Eli |date=December 8, 2015 |title=Meet Donald Trump's Islamophobia Expert |url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2015/12/08/donald-trump-frank-gaffney-islamophobia-poll/|title=Meet Donald Trump's Islamophobia Expert|date=December 8, 2015|work=[[Foreign Policy]]|access-date=May 22, 2018|url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20160315145247/http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/12/08/donald-trump-frank-gaffney-islamophobia-poll/ |archive-date=March 15, 2016 |access-date=May 22, 2018 |work=[[Foreign Policy]]}}
* {{Cite news |last=Schlesinger |first=Robert |author-link=Robert Schlesinger |date=June 9, 2009 |title=The Nutty 'Obama Is a Muslim' Charge Is Back (Now With a Hitler Comparison!) |url=https://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/robert-schlesinger/2009/06/09/the-nutty-obama-is-a-muslim-charge-is-back-now-with-a-hitler-comparison|title=The Nutty 'Obama Is a Muslim' Charge Is Back (Now With a Hitler Comparison!)|date=June 9, 2009|work=[[U.S. News & World Report]]|url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140719120554/https://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/robert-schlesinger/2009/06/09/the-nutty-obama-is-a-muslim-charge-is-back-now-with-a-hitler-comparison |archive-date=July 19, 2014 |author-linkwork=Robert[[U.S. SchlesingerNews & World Report]]}}
* {{Cite news |last=Nyhan |first=Brendan |author-link=Brendan Nyhan |date=August 24, 2010 |title=Pundits Blame the Victims on Obama Muslim Myth |url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/pundits-blame-the-victims_b_692327 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130914230619/https://www.huffingtonpost.com/brendan-nyhan/pundits-blame-the-victims_b_692327.html |archive-date=September 14, 2013 |work=[[The Huffington Post]]}}</ref>
 
In a 2009 column entitled {{" '}}Inner Muslim' at work in Cairo", Pruden wrote that President Obama was the: "first president without an instinctive appreciation of the culture, history, tradition, common law and literature whence America sprang. The genetic imprint writ large in his 43 predecessors is missing from the Obama DNA."<ref name=":4" /> In another 2009 column, Pruden wrote that Obama had "no natural instinct or blood impulse" for what America was about because he was "sired by a [[Kenya]]n father" and "born to a mother attracted to men of the [[Third World]]."<ref name=":4" /> Pruden's columns stirred rudeness and controversy, leading ''The Washington Times'' to assign David Mastio, its deputy editor, to edit his work.<ref name=":4" />
 
In 2016, ''The Washington Times'' claimed that $3.6 million in federal funds were spent on a 2013 golf outing for President Obama and pro-golfer [[Tiger Woods]] which was widely reported on by the American news media in 2013.<ref name="snopes" /><ref>{{cite news |last1=Holland |first1=Steve |title=In A First, Obama Plays Golf With Tiger Woods |agency=[[Reuters]]|date=February 17, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Irwin |first1=Neil |title=Congratulations, America! Your Deficit Fell 37 Percent In 2013 |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |date=October 31, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Calmes |first1=Jackie |title=Back In A Swing State, This Time For Sport |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=February 17, 2013}}</ref> ''[[Snopes]]'' rated the article "mostly false", because the estimated cost included both official presidential travel and a brief vacation in [[Florida]]. The online article contained hyperlinks to other, unrelated, stories from ''The Washington Times''. These links' appearance were not readily distinguishable from the citation links sometimes used to support or substantiate reporting.<ref name="snopes">{{Cite web|url=https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/obama-golf-outing-with-tiger-woods/|title=FALSE: Obama Golf Outing with Tiger Woods Cost Nearly $4 Million|last=LaCapria|first=Kim|date=October 28, 2016|publisher=[[Snopes]]|url-status=live|archive-url=https://archive.today/20200429082955/https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/obama-golf-outing-with-tiger-woods/|archive-date=April 29, 2020|access-date=May 22, 2018}}</ref> Not included in ''The Washington Times'' the article were any links to the [[Government Accountability Office]] (GAO) report of expenditure for the 2013 trip, which included a detailed overview of President Obama's activities of February 15 to 18, 2013.<ref name="GAO">{{cite journal |last1=Government Accountability Office |author1-link=Government Accountability Office |title=Presidential Travel: Estimated Costs for a Specific Presidential Trip to Illinois and Florida |date=October 2016 |volume=GAO-17-24 |url=https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-17-24 |access-date=May 19, 2021 |publisher=United States Congress}}</ref>
 
===Islamophobia and anti-Muslim===
Gaffney, known for his "long history of pushing extreme anti-Muslim views", wrote weekly columns for ''The Washington Times'' from the late 1990s to 2016.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Clifton|first=Eli|date=December 8, 2015|title=Meet Donald Trump's Islamophobia Expert|work=[[Foreign Policy]]|url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2015/12/08/donald-trump-frank-gaffney-islamophobia-poll/|url-status=live|access-date=December 25, 2018|archive-url=https://archive.today/20160315145247/http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/12/08/donald-trump-frank-gaffney-islamophobia-poll/|archive-date=March 15, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Beinart|first=Peter|author-link=Peter Beinart|date=March 19, 2017|title=Frank Gaffney's Campaign to Denationalize American Muslims|work=[[The Atlantic]]|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/03/frank-gaffney-donald-trump-and-the-denationalization-of-american-muslims/519954/|url-status=live|url-access=limited|access-date=December 25, 2018|archive-url=https://archive.today/20170319230057/https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/03/frank-gaffney-donald-trump-and-the-denationalization-of-american-muslims/519954/|archive-date=March 19, 2017}}</ref> According to [[John Esposito]], a Professor of Religion and International Affairs and of Islamic Studies at [[Georgetown University]], Gaffney's "editorial track record in the ''Washington Times'' is long on accusation and short on supportive evidence."<ref>{{Cite book|last=Esposito|first=John L.|title=The Future of Islam|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2010|isbn=9780199975778|page=19|chapter=The Many Faces of Islam and Muslims|lccn=2009018732|author-link=John Esposito|chapter-url=https://archive.org/stream/futureofislam0000espo#page/18/mode/2up|chapter-url-access=registration}}</ref> In columns for the ''Times'', Gaffney helped to popularize conspiracy theories that Islamic terrorists were infiltrating the Bush administration, the conservative movement and the Obama administration.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Bail|first=Christopher A.|title=Terrified: How Anti-Muslim Fringe Organizations Became Mainstream|publisher=Princeton University Press|year=2015|isbn=9780691159423|pages=49–51, 99|lccn=2014947502}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Terkel|first=Amanda|date=August 1, 2012|title=Frank Gaffney Plotting To Take Down Grover Norquist With Muslim Brotherhood Accusations|work=[[The Huffington Post]]|url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/frank-gaffney-grover-norquist-muslim-brotherhood_n_1699604|url-status=live|access-date=December 25, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140821135129/https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/01/frank-gaffney-grover-norquist-muslim-brotherhood_n_1699604.html|archive-date=August 21, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Swan|first=Betsy|author-link=Betsy Woodruff Swan|date=December 15, 2015|title=Cruz's Cozy Ties To DC's Most Prominent, Paranoid Islamophobe|work=[[The Daily Beast]]|url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/12/15/cruz-s-cozy-ties-to-dc-s-most-prominent-paranoid-islamophobe|url-status=live|access-date=December 25, 2018|archive-url=https://archive.today/20200428222736/https://www.thedailybeast.com/cruzs-cozy-ties-to-dcs-most-prominent-paranoid-islamophobe|archive-date=April 28, 2020}}</ref> In 2015, the ''Times'' published a column describing refugees fleeing the [[Syrian Civil War]] as an "Islamic [[Trojan Horse]]" conducting a "'jihad' by another name".<ref>{{Cite news|last=Stuster|first=J. Dana|date=December 14, 2015|title=The paranoid style in Islamophobic politics|work=[[The Hill (newspaper)|The Hill]]|url=https://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/presidential-campaign/262953-the-paranoid-style-in-islamophobic-politics|url-status=live|access-date=December 29, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170225101255/https://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/presidential-campaign/262953-the-paranoid-style-in-islamophobic-politics|archive-date=February 25, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Stableford|first=Dylan|date=December 15, 2016|title=Monica Crowley, latest addition to Trump's national security team, believes in fighting Islam 'the way we fought the Nazis'|work=[[Yahoo! News]]|url=https://www.yahoo.com/news/monica-crowley-latest-addition-to-trumps-national-security-team-believes-in-fighting-islam-the-way-we-fought-the-nazis-212132606.html|url-status=live|access-date=December 29, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170102154701/https://www.yahoo.com/news/monica-crowley-latest-addition-to-trumps-national-security-team-believes-in-fighting-islam-the-way-we-fought-the-nazis-212132606.html|archive-date=January 2, 2017}}</ref>
 
The Muslim advocacy group [[Council on American–Islamic Relations]] listed ''The Washington Times'' among media outlets it said "regularly demonstrates or supports Islamophobic themes."<ref name="deseretnews.com">{{Cite news|last=Winston|first=Kimberly|url=https://www.deseretnews.com/article/865656561/Report-says-list-of-6Islamophobic-groups7-reaches-new-high.html|title=Report says list of 'Islamophobic groups' reaches new high|date=June 20, 2016|work=[[Deseret News]]|access-date=December 25, 2018|url-status=livedead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200418035701/https://www.deseret.com/2016/6/20/20590586/report-says-list-of-islamophobic-groups-reaches-new-high|archive-date=April 18, 2020|agency=[[Religion News Service]]}}</ref> In 1998, the Egyptian newspaper ''[[Al-Ahram]]'' wrote that ''The Washington Times'' its editorial policy was "rabidly anti-[[Arab people|Arab]], anti-Muslim and pro-Israel."<ref>{{Cite news|last=Nafie|first=Ibrahim|url=http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/1998/403/op1.htm|title=The same old game|date=November 12–18, 1998|work=[[Al-Ahram]]|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090215193404/http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/1998/403/op1.htm|archive-date=February 15, 2009|issue=403|author-link=Ebrahim Nafae}}</ref>
 
==Staff==