John Solomon and the Washington Times — Quite a pair

January 15, 2008

Up until the summer of 2006, I was completely unfamiliar with John Solomon, then a reporter with the Associated Press. What caught my attention, of course, was a series of odd and misleading articles Solomon wrote attacking Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.), accusing him of ethical lapses. The closer one looked at the criticisms, the weaker the charges looked. Months later, Reid was cleared of any wrongdoing, while Solomon was inexplicably rewarded — in December 2006 he joined the Washington Post’s national desk, heading up some sort of investigative “team,” ostensibly focusing on the intersection of money and politics.

Over the course of 2007, Solomon, regrettably, met expectations. He ran an odd front-page piece on John Edwards selling his house, a bizarre front-page expose on Hillary Clinton’s charitable donations, and a sloppy piece on a Nancy Pelosi earmark for a San Francisco waterfront redevelopment project. The accusations in the stories didn’t withstand even cursory scrutiny. In July, Solomon out did himself, devoting nearly 1,300 words to the “controversy” surrounding John Edwards’ haircut.

One started to get the sense that maybe, just maybe, Solomon was a conservative Republican with journalistic standards that weren’t quite what they should be. Yesterday, Solomon removed all doubt.

The Washington Times went across town for its new executive editor, tapping John F. Solomon of The Washington Post, a veteran investigative reporter. He replaces Wesley R. Pruden, who has spent 25 years at the Times, 16 as top editor.

“Solomon brings to the newsroom leadership over two decades of journalism experience, with a strong background in investigative reporting and managing interactive digital content,” the Times said in a release.

Adds Times President Thomas P. McDevitt: “John Solomon’s appointment is a great step forward for The Washington Times, and is good news for our readers, staff and advertisers.”

Well, “good news” is often subjective.

It’s probably worth pausing for a moment to note the difference that exists between implicitly conservative media and explicitly conservative media.

Implicitly conservative media at least pretends to strive for quality and objectivity. These are news outlets that can be frustrating, in that they consistently fall short of professional standards, but the frustration comes as a result of expectations — the audience knows that the outlet claims to be legitimate.

Explicitly conservative media drops the pretense. These outlets are outwardly ideological, existing only to present a conservative worldview. There’s no real claim to neutrality; explicitly conservative media is intentionally biased. It’s a feature, not a bug.

The Washington Times is an explicitly conservative news outlet. Created by a controversial self-appointed messiah, Sun Myung Moon, the Times was created to be a paper for DC Republicans. It’s a propaganda rag, on purpose.

By taking over for Wes Pruden, John Solomon is conceding exactly where his biases have always been, except now, he won’t have to maintain the facade.

Matt at TP noted a variety of recent examples of Solomon’s shoddy journalism and concluded, “At the preeminent conservative newspaper in the nation, John Solomon’s shoddy reporting record has finally found the appropriate home.” Media Matters and Jason Linkins have more.

As of now, no word from the Washington Post as to why it tolerated Solomon for as long it did.

Wow. Does this mean Solomon is as crazy a Pruden, or that the WashTimes is trying to clean up its act? I’m guessing it’s the former

  • The rap on Solomon as I recall was not that he’s an ideologue. It was just that he’s basically lazy reporter who’s an easy touch for oppo researchers of any stripe and anyone else willing to do the work of putting together an article for him. Maybe management is more his calling.

  • The Washington Times proves it is the D.C. newspaper equivalent of the Bush Administration. Demonstrate complete incompetence and ideological rigidity and get a promotion! Heckuva a job, Solomon.

  • The Washington Times proves it is the D.C. newspaper equivalent of the Bush Administration. Demonstrate complete incompetence and ideological rigidity and get a promotion! Heckuva a job, Solomon.

  • The Washington Times is also a treasonable paper, about as bad or worse than the NYT. They publish, on a quite regular basis, stories pulled out of the Pentagon from conservative DoD employees unhappy with their department’s policies, and routinely expose the nation’s secrets to make their wingnut case.

    And of course I hate Tony Blankley…

  • While Solomon can be bashed for the lousy quality of his reporting and their obvious slant as hit pieces, the damning accusations rest with his editors who shouldn’t have let such sloppy and mischievous work pass, let alone hit the front page. In hockey, there is a goon on just about every team who acts as the “enforcer.” He’s usually not a very good hockey player, but he’s usually imposing and can land a hard punch. When someone on the other team needs to be sent a message, the enforcer goes out and with no pretense gets into a fight. Solomon has been the enforcer for the AP and the Washington Post. My question is why do these news agencies have an enforcer on their staff and how high up do the orders come for John to get into his scraps with Democrats.

  • The Washington Post has degenerated from the Watergate days when it was a quality newspaper. Katherine Graham must be turning over in her grave. When they give editorial space to Jonah Goldberg’s nitwit ravings about “Liberal Fascists” what can you expect. Look at all the conservatives on their Op Ed pages. Meyerson is the only true liberal in their stable. No better illustration of how the conservative big lie perpetrated over the last few decades that media is “liberal” can be found than what has happened to the Post.

  • It’s completely understandable why the Post hired Solomon in the first place and then tolerated him for the past year. Investigative journalists make their name through scoops. They don’t work like other reporters. They’re more like prosecutors; they come up with a theory and marshal the facts that best prove it. I worked at numerous papers across the country and knew some very prominent I-team folks. Even the best took this approach to their stories and a couple were Pulitzer finalists, despite failing to adequately show the other side of the issue.Solomon fits this pattern perfectly. Rather than a liberal investigator, he takes a conservative bent and does so with gusto. I’m sure his departure is considered a big loss among the top brass. It’s just the way things work. And for those out there bemoaning the degradation of this fine newspaper since the Watergate days, don’t forget Janet Cook, who faked a Pulitzer series just a few years after Woodstein did their thing.

  • JZ

    Should an investigator take a “conservative” or a “liberal” bent? Shouldn’t the “bent” be non-partisan? And shouldn’t the “bent” avoid being riddled with inaccuracies and manufactured non-issues?

    If the WaPo brass thinks it’s a big loss, that only confirms their conservative “bent.”

  • This is fantastic news. My spousal unit still insists on getting the Post, but we NEVER read the Times. Next up, Deborah Howell.

  • I think this is great news. The Washington Times is a joke, everyone knows its a joke. Solomon will no longer have the gravitas of Post to support his tripe.

    The WaTi: A lead casing for radioactively bad reporters.

  • Investigative journalists make their name through scoops. They don’t work like other reporters.

    Tee, hee, hee.

    I’m sure his departure is considered a big loss among the top brass. It’s just the way things work.

    Bwahaha!

    Please, my sides can’t take much more of your lame imitation of someone who knows what the hell they’re talking about.

    And for those out there bemoaning the degradation of this fine newspaper since the Watergate days, don’t forget Janet Cook, who faked a Pulitzer series just a few years after Woodstein did their thing.

    Oh, OK. You’re a spoof. Pretty good but you gave the game away too soon.

  • No way condoning the work Solomon did, just trying to explain how he remained a star despite it. If Orange had ever spent anytime in a newsroom, he’d know that the I-team folks are the swinging dicks of the journalism world, acting like they’re the sheriffs come to clean things up. It’s not the way it should be, just the way it is. Some of them do great work, others just make it look so. And top editors love them because they win they big awards and get all the chatter on the blogs. Does Solomon’s departure from the Post improve the paper’s coverage? Probably. Until they hire the next version of him. That simple enough for you, Orange?

  • JZ – A good spoof should know when he’s busted. You tried, you failed. Your as-seen-on-tv take on what goes on in a newsroom is a hoot but it doesn’t provide sufficient cover.

    Get a new handle and another schtick before you play again. May I suggest a Paulattacker? Those are easy to do.

  • Popcorn bowl in hand, I eagerly await the kookiness that will ensue as the Mormon GOP golden boy collides with the Moonie Times spin control.

  • The Washington Times is an explicitly conservative news outlet. Created by a controversial self-appointed messiah, Sun Myung Moon, the Times was created to be a paper for DC Republicans. It’s a propaganda rag, on purpose.

    That is just the start of story.

    Although Moon has bluntly said he has used the paper to “influence America”, that he created the paper “to protect Reagan” and for his followers to use it to “influence America”, people still miss the point of the paper, imo.

    It does two main things.

    It gives Moon huge face and influence around the world. No media, other than Moon’s own, cover his efforts on the world stage. He is now conning thousands of religious activists all over the world into joining the culmination of his life long plot, the Universal Peace Federation. If you have ever seen Moon introduced overseas as the “owner of the prestigious Washington Times”, you know it is much more than just a paper in the USA. It is one the most quoted papers in the world and brings Moon huge face. This face also translates to help him keep his thumb on the minds of his followers as they see him honored around the world.

    That is the dirty little secret people who drool over the WT do not want to admit as they lie and tell themsleves they do not help Moon’s “religion”. In fact they do. Hell, Bush and Ford say that, and they spoke at an event where the Unification Church changed its name to help it con the world and hide from its past.

    The second purpose was to create a political environment for the theocrats, authoritarians, and fascists who most closely mirror Moon’s image. Moon wants theocratic governments or nations who increasingly see the “religious” as the answer and accept their guidence. Keep in mind, when Jimmie Carter stopped funding operation CONDOR, it was Moon who picked up the slack, propping up the fascist torturing dictators like Stroessner. Moon believes that democracy is as failed effort as Jesus’ life. He wants it replaced. Conservatives latch onto Moon because he cons them with his “anti-communism” talk, yet he funds North Korea and lumps democracy with communism as failed systems.(I know they are not opposites but that is how he views them.)

    In fact the moonies claim communism is the anti-Christ, which conveniently gets them past some of those passages in the Bible which expose Moon as a fraud. Moon does NOT give shit about Republicans, anymore than he cares about the Bushes, both of which would NOT have risen to power absent Moon’s billions in overseas cash, his fronts and his operatives. He only cares that his ideology is pushed, period. It just so happened that the conservative of yesteryear was the perfect shell for him to mold. AND HE DID. That is why he created the paper.

    Although the paper is by no means editorially independent of Moon’s plans, this does not mean he comes into the office and barks orders. Bo Hi Pak stated that he and Moon could trust de Borchgrave to do as they wanted. Moon calls what he is doing the “natural subjugation of the American government and population”. He simply hires people like Solomon who share much of his right wing ideology and are willing to deceive the nation to get it.

    A rightwing nation makes for fertile ground for the theocrats. You see?

    Moon has more to do with the political direction of the USA the last 25 years than anyone. It really isn’t close if you look. He spent 3 billion on the WT alone. US News reported in 1989 that Moon had ties to virtually every conservative organization in DC. I assure you, today’s’ conservatism would not be as authoritarian, homophobic nor as theocratic as it is today absent Moon’s money and conditioning.

    The Washington Times is simply the flagship of Moon’s effort to subvert our country into his right wing theofascist world, and help him do the same to the world, that is all. The idea that it is anything other than Moon’s personal tool created manipulate our nation politically is the biggest fraud ever perpetrated on the nation.

    The funny things is, ALL of Moon’s followers know full well the purpose of Moon’s fronts which they call “Father’s Projects”…they know they are out subdue our political system and they did and they continue to do just that as part of a broader plan for the world.

    Read about one source of the billions in overseas cash moon used to screw our nation here.

    As bad as they may be, anyone lumping the WT with WP and the NYT together doesn’t have a clue what they are talking about. Although Moon loves that kind of talk, drag everyone into his slop pit and you subvert the whole.

  • Horse’s Mouth noted that John Solomon was hired BECAUSE of his horrible reporting. What is far more troubling is thas Solomon was clearly hired by the WP BECAUSE of his horrible reporting.

    I think it’s worthwhile to recount Solomon’s amazing failure upward:

    1) He shills against Reed, and the AP gives him a cash reward for most talked about story that week, AND gets put at the head of an investigative team.

    2) After reporters with standards revolt, Solmon is promoted to the WP, where Howell is forced to vouch for Solomon’s hiring due to his remarkable investigative ability, and then is forced, after much outcry, to denounce several of his stories on Edwards. These stories all contained the same misleading slander that made him a controversial hire in the first place, and appeared on the front page. The editors DEFEND Solomon’s work, despite the rebuke from the ombudsman, in part because they were the most talked about stories at the paper, and Solomon continues to shill.

    3) After a revolt among reputable journalists at the WP, Solomon is promoted to editor of the Washington Times.

    Now, you’re tell me this guy wasn’t hired by the AP and WP BECAUSE he was a dishonest shill?

    Someone insists on this guy’s hiring, and someone is looking out for him, making sure he is rewarded every time he gets found out. The Republican protection racket isn’t giving him this job for nothin’.

  • BTW, if you want to see one reason this was such a perfect hire, watch this 1991 panel discussion featuring three former editors of Moon’s media.

    About the 46;00 mark James Whelan speaks. Start watching at 52:00 if you are in a hurry…he explains why Solomon was such a great hire using the letter “C”…

  • The favourite story of every newspaper publisher and editor should be, “The Northern Light”, by A.J. Cronin. The duty of a newspaper sold to the public is to educate, to inform; to uplift. It is not to steer the limited decision-making of incurious or ideological minds, or to fill them with titillating gossip that has no serious merit – that is the job of the broadsheet stapled to a telephone pole, the hate pamphlet thrust into your hand by the wild-eyed loon on the sidewalk.

    Sometimes, just sometimes, there are advantages to a dictatorship. Under such a system, careless loudmouths like Solomon ended up in the Neva wearing enough cement to support a wharf.

  • I think the WT will turn into a gossip rag once moon senior is dead and will be bought out by the owner of Hustler or Murdoch Jr.

    seriously, the second generation kids have no taste nor ambition nor brains for weilding power and most of the yakuza money has dried up for this venture. let it breathe its last thru the gossip-mongering lips of a self-hating Jew.

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