The Washington Times’ executive editor has resigned from his post, completing a turnover of the conservative broadsheet’s top management and deepening uncertainty about the paper’s future.
John Solomon was reportedly cloistered in western Virginia, studying his options, since the unseating of the Times’ publisher and two other top executives Sunday. But Don Meyer, Washington Times spokesman, issued a curt statement indicating that Solomon would not return.
“Effective November 6, 2009, John Solomon has resigned his position as the executive editor of The Washington Times,” Meyer said.
The Times, owned by The Rev. Sun Myung Moon and his Unification Church, is in turmoil, and there is widespread speculation that the newspaper may be on the verge of shutting down.
On Monday, the paper announced that it had fired three top executives — President and Publisher Thomas McDevitt, Chief Financial Officer Keith Cooperrider and Chairman Dong Moon Joo. Jonathan Slevin was named acting president and publisher.
The firings were blamed on the economy.
“Today’s industry conditions and the general economic downturn necessitate this team-based assessment, planning, and subsequent implementation of a plan to enable The Times to become a sustainable multimedia company in today’s challenging news industry environment,” the paper said in a press released issued Monday.
The Talking Points Memo blog has reported that infighting among Moon’s children, who are taking over the family business, may have sparked the sudden shake-up. Security has been beefed up at the paper’s New York Avenue NE headquarters, and the gates to the parking lot are being kept closed.
Solomon, a former Washington Post and Associated Press staffer, was hired by the Times in 2008 to take over from Wesley Pruden, who had run the newspaper for 16 years. He was charged with making the Times profitable after years of church subsidies that had added up to as much as $2 billion, according to reports. He initiated a transformation of the paper’s Web site, and steered the Times into talk radio. But the paper’s circulation has continued to sink — reaching just over 67,000 according to a recent audit.
