Outlet profile

UPI

U.S. center (wire service; news-focused)

Owned byNews World Communications, a media company founded by Unification Church leader Sun Myung Moon, which bought UPI in 2000. News World also owns Segye Ilbo (South Korea) and Sekai Nippo (Japan), and formerly owned The Washington Times.

FundingMainly revenue from selling news, photos and content to subscribers and licensees, plus website advertising. Its Unification Church-linked owner has historically subsidized the company, and public figures on its finances are limited.

On the administrationmostly neutral

Background

United Press International began as United Press, founded in 1907 by E.W. Scripps, and merged with Hearst's International News Service in 1958 to form UPI. It was a major rival to the Associated Press through the mid-20th century, with thousands of employees and bureaus around the world. Over the following decades it lost clients and money, went through bankruptcy and several ownership changes, and shrank sharply. In 2000 News World Communications, the Unification Church-affiliated company that also launched The Washington Times, bought UPI. The sale prompted concern about editorial independence, and longtime White House correspondent Helen Thomas resigned after decades with the agency. Today UPI is a much smaller operation that produces wire-style news, photos, and specialty content such as science, health, and entertainment. Independent raters generally describe its news reporting as balanced and factual: AllSides rates it Center (with low confidence), Media Bias/Fact Check rates it least biased with high factual reporting, and Ad Fontes rates it neutral and highly reliable. Its owner's religious and political ties have been a reason for some critics to scrutinize it, but its day-to-day output is mostly straight news rather than opinion.

Sources

Profile compiled 2026-10-22; refreshed when ownership, funding, or the administration changes.

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