By: Staff reports Thomas Resigns After 57 Years of Service
United Press International announced late Monday that it has been acquired by News
World Communications, an affiliate of the Rev. Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church.
News World also owns The Washington Times.
UPI Chief Executive Officer Arnaud de Borchgrave said the new owners had given him
assurances of editorial independence. He likened the arrangement to the freedom he
said he enjoyed during a stint as top editor at The Washington Times, also owned by
News World.
De Borchgrave said the sale would let him pursue ambitious plans to recast UPI as a
Web-based distributor of stories tracking high-technology industries that may
transform society. Rev. Moon said he would devote technological resources to the
troubled wire service.
'Instead of having something that's a mile wide and an inch deep, have something an
inch wide and a mile deep,' de Borchgrave told E&P.
He said he anticipated hiring 31 new journalists to add to the staff of approximately
160 journalists, most of them based in Washington.
But Tuesday morning brought the resignation of UPI's White House reporter Helen Thomas,
who said she would not work for the new owners. Thomas covered the White House for 40
years and survived several ownership changes during her 57 years of service at UPI.
Once a powerful wire that competed with The Associated Press, UPI has watched its
client list shrink over the years, especially as afternoon newspapers went out of
business across the country.
Todd J. Shields, Washington editor for Editor & Publisher magazine,
contributed to this story.
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