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Outlet profile

United Press International

U.S. center (wire service; Unification Church-affiliated ownership)

Owned byNews World Communications Inc., a media company founded by Rev. Sun Myung Moon of the Unification Church; the same parent company also owns the Washington Times
FundingWire service licensing fees from subscribing news organizations, website advertising, and content syndication
On the administrationmostly neutral

Background

UPI traces its roots to 1907, when newspaper publisher E.W. Scripps founded United Press (UP) to supply affordable news wire service to any newspaper. In 1958, UP merged with William Randolph Hearst's International News Service to form United Press International, making it one of the two dominant global wire services alongside the Associated Press. By the early 1980s the company was hemorrhaging subscribers as afternoon newspapers — its core market — folded in large numbers; Scripps sold the company in 1982, and UPI filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 1985. It changed hands multiple times through the 1990s, including a 1992 sale to Saudi-backed Middle East Broadcasting Centre Ltd. In 2000, News World Communications Inc. — a media organization founded by Unification Church leader Rev. Sun Myung Moon — purchased UPI; the deal prompted veteran White House correspondent Helen Thomas to resign after 57 years with the organization, citing concerns about editorial independence under the new owners. Under that ownership UPI has continued operating as a wire service and digital news outlet, and its photographers have won industry awards. Media watchdogs — AllSides (Center), Media Bias/Fact Check (Least Biased), and Ad Fontes Media (Middle/Reliable) — all rate its news output as essentially centrist, suggesting that the Unification Church connection has not visibly steered daily reporting, though critics note the inherent risk given the conservative orientation of the owner's flagship paper, the Washington Times.

Sources

  1. UPI History – About UPI
  2. Washington Times Owner Buys UPI – The Washington Post
  3. United Press International (UPI) – Media Bias/Fact Check
  4. United Press International Media Bias – AllSides
  5. UPI Bias and Reliability – Ad Fontes Media
  6. United Press International – Wikipedia
  7. United Press International – SourceWatch
  8. News World Communications – Wikipedia

Profile compiled 2026-07-27; refreshed when ownership, funding, or the administration changes.

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