Things are looking bad at the Washington Times: TPM hears from current staffers in the newsroom there has been an increased security presence at the newspaper in recent days. On Sunday, when three executives were fired, armed guards were brought up to the third floor where management works, according to three newsroom sources.
Newsroom sources tell TPM that employees have been told the third floor is "closed."
Employees at first couldn't use the elevators for the three-story building. An additional guard has been spotted in the lobby, standing next to the regular security guard who is there during business hours. Sources aren't sure whether the guard remaining on site today is armed.
The building in northeast Washington D.C. has always had private security in the lobby, but the extra security is a new development.
Today, the corridor on the third floor is also blocked off with an additional security guard.
The newspaper's parking lot has a security gate which hadn't been used for about one year, but it has been activated again.
Jonathan Slevin, formerly a vice president at the paper and now acting president and publisher, declined to talk to TPM this morning -- referring us instead to a public relations firm, Rubin Meyer Communications.
Don Meyer, a spokesman for the Washington Times and a partner at Rubin Meyer, said he couldn't comment on what was going on at the newspaper's office today because he hadn't been there. When asked about armed guards in the building, Meyer said, "I have not the slightest idea. Sorry."
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