Moon, guests celebrate 20th anniversary of The Washington Times

Associated Press/May 22, 2002

Washington -- The Rev. Sun Myung Moon and a crowd of 3,000 celebrated the 20th anniversary of the newspaper he founded, The Washington Times, in the nation's capital.

Moon, the 82-year-old leader of the Unification Church, started the Times on May 17, 1982, nine months after The Washington Star closed. The Times has a daily circulation of 110,120 and a strong following among political conservatives in the U.S. capital for its editorial philosophy.

The other newspaper in the nation's capital is the Washington Post.

Moon has invested more than $1billion dollars in his News World Communications, which recently bought United Press International.

Moon delivered an hourlong address in Korean with a printed version in English given to guests, on the life of Jesus.

"I hope that the Washington Times, UPI and other major media will accept this lofty command from Heaven and take up the task of educating humankind, taking a stance beyond religion and ideology," said Moon.

Among guests at the celebration were talk-show host Dr. Laura Schlessinger, former Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger, former Times editor Arnaud de Borchgrave and singer Randy Travis.

"We are here to celebrate a two-newspaper town," said Cal Thomas, a syndicated columnist who is carried by the Times.