MOTHER of PEACE CHAPTER 5 THE EMBLEM OF THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN 4. Media expressing universal values
The year 1975 was a time when a shadow of gloom hung over the world. The US pulled out of Vietnam that April, leaving the country in the hands of the communists. People were shocked and horrified as the communists in Vietnam and its neighbor Cambodia slaughtered entire populations. Across the globe, communism was gaining in strength.
I was born in North Korea, and I experienced firsthand the cruelty of communism and the wretchedness of war, so I knew very well that when Vietnam fell, it would lead to bloody massacres and the spread of its harsh ideology to neighboring countries.
In Japan of the 1970s, the Unification movement was growing, but communism was also gaining power. The Korean residents in Japan created separate pro-Seoul and pro-Pyongyang groups and they often engaged in confrontation. My husband and I decided that the most effective way to influence Japan as a free society, and protect it from communism, would be to create a newspaper.
In democratic countries, the media is more often critical than constructive. Trying to gain market share, editors pander to forces that persecute those who aren't politically correct or who practice a minority religion. My husband and I imagined a different kind of media, one that is constructive and represents fairness and absolute values. With this in mind, in January 1975 we founded the Sekai Nippo newspaper in Tokyo.
Our Japanese members had great expectations for the paper but found that maintaining a newspaper is like climbing a hill carrying a heavy load on a dark night. Left-wing groups opposed us in every conceivable way. At the same time, however, Sekai Nippo gained support from law-abiding citizens and anti-communist organizations. It became a newspaper loved by the Japanese people. To this day, Sekai Nippo has fearlessly reported the objective truth. The power of truth protected Japan from communism.
In early 1981 when my husband and I heard that The Washington Star, the conservative voice in Washington, DC, was closing down, we were concerned. There were two well-established newspapers in that city, The Washington Star and The Washington Post. The Washington Star, which had been in operation for over 130 years, had run into financial difficulties. Soon there would be only one newspaper in the most politically powerful city of the United States, and that newspaper, The Washington Post, was left-leaning in its editorial stance.
There was a need for a newspaper in Washington that would protect faith, freedom and family values, and no American conservatives were willing to step into the breach. When my husband and I decided to take this on, people trying to be prudent and wise told us again and again that it would be difficult to publish a new newspaper in the capital of the United States. We had never shied away from a task because it was difficult, and we didn't then.
On May 17, 1982, after a great deal of effort to find a building and printing presses and hire competent, dedicated staff, the first issue of The Washington Times was published. Opponents said that The Washington Times would be a propaganda instrument for the Unification Church but such words reflected prejudice.
It is difficult these days to run a newspaper at a profit, and The Washington Times lost money from the outset. Yet its absence would leave no conservative newspaper in the US capital. It would mean the newspaper that championed faith and family would have disappeared. Seeing the financial spreadsheets, people wondered, “How long until they close down?” Nonetheless, the more they doubted us, the greater was my husband's and my faith, and the greater was the commitment of The Washington Times staff.
Together with them, we resolutely defended democracy while advocating family values, morality and the role of women. As a result, the newspaper's popularity grew. Every year, the paper did better, and now in the age of the internet, it is one of the most influential newspapers in the United States.
At a banquet to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the newspaper's founding, we received congratulatory messages from well-known leaders worldwide. Former President Reagan let people know that The Washington Times played a key role in defeating communism when he said of the newspaper:
'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.”
Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher of the United Kingdom also expressed her gratitude. She sent greetings, saying:
“In difficult times, even more than in easy ones, the voice of conservatism must make itself heard in the media. It isn't always easy, but of this, we can be sure: While The Washington Times is alive and well, conservative views will never be drowned out.”
The Washington Times is influential, yet it is not a newspaper appealing only to the elite. It represents all people and inspires citizens to live decent and healthy everyday lives. The Washington Times has established itself as a voice of truth for people all over the world. |