Media, Money and Sun Myung Moon

RoryO'Conner.org
Part One of Two

“Moon looked on the media as almost the nervous system for a global empire. Moon was the brain, and the media are to be, or were to be, the communications vehicle for his body politic surrounding the globe.”

In January 1992, PBS Frontline broadcast a film I directed that documented the amazing rise, fall and subsequent resurrection of Sun Myung Moon, founder of the Unification Church movement. The documentary showed how, through an adroit combination of money, media and the consistent promotion of a conservative political agenda, a self-styled Messiah and convicted felon had rapidly reinvented himself and was soon hailed at the White House.

At the time, few Americans paid much attention to Reverend Moon – and those that did had bizarre recollections of him and the “Moonies,” as his followers once called themselves: mass weddings of complete strangers, flower-peddling in the street, and repeated allegations of mind control and brainwashing.

Even back then, Moon’s movement, once labeled a cult, was more accurately described as a conglomerate. As my film stated, “From media operations in the nation’s capital… To substantial real estate holdings throughout the United States… And from large commercial fishing operations… To advanced high-tech and computer industries, a Fifth Avenue publishing house, and literally dozens of other businesses, foundations, associations, institutes, and political and cultural groups… Moon and his money have become a force to be reckoned with.”

(Continued here.)

Part Two (from SmirkingChimp):

Of all the many questions swirling around the fate of Sun Myung Moon's daily newspaper the Washington Times, none is as puzzling as this: where did all the money come from to keep the paper afloat all these years?

Like many American newspapers, Washington's "other” daily is now hemorrhaging money. Unlike most, however, red ink is nothing new for the Times, which has been a major money loser ever since its inception in 1982. But money has never been a problem for the man behind the Times - convicted felon and self-styled "Messiah" Sun Myung Moon. As I reported in my previous post, the Korean cult leader spent well over a billion dollars in just the decade of 1982-92 — at a time when most of his operations in America were losing substantial sums:

* more than $800 million on the Washington Times;
* hundreds of millions on national periodicals;
* tens of millions on electronic media;
* at least $40 million on New York newspapers;
* more than $10 million on a New York publishing house;
* millions on World Media Association junkets and conferences;
* millions more on New Right organizations, including the American Freedom Coalition;
* well over $100 million on real estate, including the New Yorker Hotel in midtown Manhattan;
* at least $40 million on commercial fishing operations;
* and at least $75 million on related projects...

(Continued here.)

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