Televangelist mulls buying Va. paper

Robertson has clashed with Norfolk daily

NORFOLK, Va. - Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson is considering making an offer for The Virginian-Pilot, a daily newspaper he has criticized for its coverage of him and his activities.

The Pilot is the flagship newspaper of Norfolk-based Landmark Communications Inc., which announced last week that it was evaluating whether to sell all of its assets, including The Weather Channel.

"Although the price for The Weather Channel is a little rich for my blood, I am considering a potential bid for The Pilot and have asked my attorneys to look into it," Robertson said in an e-mail statement provided yesterday by his assistant, G.G. Conklin.

Robertson, founder and chairman of the Christian Broadcasting Network, said the newspaper could provide internships for journalism students at Regent University, the private Christian school he founded. Both CBN and Regent are in nearby Virginia Beach.

Robertson, through Conklin, turned down an interview request.

Landmark's vice chairman, Richard F. Barry III, declined to comment yesterday.

Officials with the family-owned company have said the sales process could take at least six months to complete. They have declined to say why the sale was being considered.

While analysts have estimated the Atlanta-based Weather Channel could fetch up to $5 billion, especially if coupled with its popular weather.com website, the newspaper's worth is unclear.

The Pilot said in an article yesterday first reporting Robertson's interest that it most recently had an average seven-day audited circulation of 186,489.

There is precedence for religious organizations owning newspapers, said Philip Meyer, a journalism professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and author of "The Vanishing Newspaper: Saving Journalism in the Information Age."

Meyer said Robertson could produce a good newspaper, like The Christian Science Monitor, published by The First Church of Christ, Scientist in Boston.

Or, he said, Robertson could use The Pilot to promote his religious and political views, which could encourage competition by inspiring someone to try to produce a better newspaper or an online news product.

"So it stirs the pot, and good things could come from this," Meyer said.

Robertson has objected over the years to articles in the newspaper that he said unfairly characterized him and his activities.

In 1999, Robertson held a news conference to dispute The Pilot's report that Virginia's consumer protection agency wanted to prosecute his international charity, Operation Blessing, for making deceptive appeals for donations but was overruled by the state attorney general's office.

The paper, citing a report by the Office of Consumer Affairs, said Robertson made false claims about the use of Operation Blessing airplanes in humanitarian relief efforts in Africa when the planes were used to haul equipment for a Robertson-backed diamond mining venture.

Robertson accused the paper of conducting a vendetta against him and said he told his attorneys to look into the possibility of filing a libel lawsuit against the paper.

"I've turned my other cheek so many times my head is dizzy," Robertson said at the time.

Most recently, Robertson wrote a letter to the editor accusing The Pilot of leaving out critical facts provided to a reporter after it reported in December that nearly half the faculty members in Regent's counseling program have left and that students have been punished for voicing concerns.

Robertson's CBN network has about 2,800 employees, producing programs shown in 225 countries.