Wash. Times' new executive editor, John Solomon, has history of distortion

Written by Brian Frederick

Published

On January 15, The Washington Times introduced John Solomon as its new executive editor, succeeding the retiring Wesley Pruden. Solomon previously worked for the Associated Press and, most recently, The Washington Post. Washington Times President Thomas P. McDevitt said of the hiring: “John Solomon's appointment is a great step forward for The Washington Times, and is good news for our readers, staff and advertisers. ... He is a working journalist, innovative manager and skilled leader who can navigate the complicated media landscape while maintaining traditional news values and credibility.”

However, as Media Matters for America has documented, like The Washington Times itself, Solomon has been a frequent purveyor of conservative misinformation:

  • Wash. Post ignored own reporting in repeating Freeh allegation (The Washington Post; 12/15/07)
  • Solomon ignored Planned Parenthood support for Obama's abortion votes (The Washington Post; 12/14/07)
  • Solomon ignored facts in reporting distribution of Obama's Hopefund contributions (The Washington Post; 11/30/07)
  • Solomon blamed editor for deletion about GOP fundraiser (washingtonpost.com; 9/05/07)
  • Solomon uncritically quoted Thompson “mocking global warming” (The Washington Post; 7/27/07)
  • Thompson's role as Nixon mole in Watergate probe absent from Solomon's Wash. Post story (The Washington Post; 7/26/07)
  • Wash Post's Baker and Solomon highlighted old disclosures in Clinton books as new (The Washington Post; 5/25/07)
  • Solomon falsely claimed Edwards “opposes” subprime lending (washingtonpost.com; 5/16/07)
  • Solomon -- whose “investigations” fuel right-wing attacks -- suggested Clinton nonprofit is somehow corrupt (The Washington Post; 2/27/07)
  • Wash. Post baselessly linked Abramoff to Democratic fundraisers (The Washington Post; 2/24/07)
  • Solomon baselessly suggested Edwards broke campaign finance law (washingtonpost.com; 1/23/07)
  • Solomon baselessly suggested shady Edwards land deal (The Washington Post; 1/19/07)
  • Drudge misrepresented as “sweetheart land deal” a business transaction by Sen. Reid, described in an article by AP's Solomon (The Drudge Report, The Associated Press; 10/11/06)
  • In its cropping of AP's misleading Reid follow-up, NY Times compounded distortions (The New York Times; 6/02/06)
  • In follow-up article on Reid, Solomon continued pattern of distortion (The Associated Press; 6/01/06)
  • Responding to Media Matters, AP continued to mislead in reporting on Reid (The Associated Press; 5/31/06)
  • Even more serious flaws emerge in AP story about Reid's attendance at boxing matches (The Associated Press; 5/29/06)
  • Fox & Friends further distorted flawed AP report on Reid's boxing tickets (Fox News' Fox & Friends; 5/30/06)
  • Solomon lobbed more faulty ethics accusations at Reid (The Associated Press; 5/29/06)
  • AP continued to mislead on purported Abramoff-Reid link (The Associated Press; 2/11/06)
  • AP left out key facts in report linking Reid, Abramoff (The Associated Press, 2/09/06)