The new claims include an acknowledgment by Newsweek's parent company, IBT Media, that it has given money to Olivet University – a Christian college founded by Pastor David Jang from South Korea -- despite past insistence by IBT executives that it has no financial ties to the school.
The story also claims that Johnathan Davis, 31, IBT's chief content officer who said he owns about half of the company, once praised an editorial that espoused ex-gay therapy, a controversial practice aimed at curing same-sex attraction.
Davis and his business partner, Etienne Uzac, 30, have said that they funded their business through money derived from personal savings and a loan from the Small Business Administration, not though venture funds. Uzac, who is IBT's CEO, told USA TODAY earlier this year that they each have roughly a 50% stake in the company.
The media spotlight on the relatively unknown entrepreneurs follows a splashy relaunch of the 81-year old brand in early March after its previous owner, IAC Interactive, stopped printing it in December 2012.
The cover story for the inaugural issue -- which purportedly identified the founder of crypto currency Bitcoin -- has been criticized by some media critics and on social media since the man who was named in the story, Dorian Satoshi Nakamoto, denied that he was involved in creating the digital currency. Newsweek's editors have stood by the story.
IBT's ties to Olivet raised in 2012
That IBT Media may be one of several for-profit businesses controlled by Olivet's leaders has been reported since 2012. In a story by Christianity Today in August 2012, Davis was revealed to have once been an employee of Olivet University, and his wife, Tracy, was -- and is -- the president of the Bay Area-based school.
Jang is no longer listed on the leadership sectio! n of the school's website. But citing unnamed sources, Christianity Today's 2012 story said IBT "leaders took part in Internet chats with Jang (usually weekly), where the pastor laid out his plans for various business units, like Olivet University and the Christian Post."
David told The Guardian that Christianity Today's 2012 story contained "so many mistakes."
Uzac was once listed as the school's treasurer and was a member of Olivet's board of trustees until last year, The Guardian reported.
Uzac's wife, Marion, was previously the press secretary for the World Evangelical Alliance, which is closely associated with Olivet University. Olivet is a member of the alliance and Jang sits on the alliance's North American council, The Guardian reported.
IBT Media still recruits often from Olivet, in a deal described by Tracy Davis as resembling Google's relationship with Stanford University. IBT's news website, International Business Times, was listed in 2008 as an "Olivet ministry affiliate" in a handbook given to Olivet students looking for jobs, the Guardian report said.
"I understand why people ask questions," he told The Guardian. "But I'd also like the journalism to speak for itself."
Newsweek's possible ties to Jang evokes another case of high-profile American media ownership by a controversial religious leader from South Korea. Sun Myung Moon, the late founder of the Unification Church, founded The Washington Times in the early 1980s as an instrument of influence and a public relations vehicle for his empire that included for-profit businesses.
Christianity Today asserted in 2012 that Jang once taught in a Unification Church seminary. Tracy Davis told The Guardian that "Mr. Jang is not part of Rev. Moon's church."
Uzac and David could not be reached for comment Saturday.
Jang's influence on IBT Media remains unclear. While Uzac told BuzzFeed in 2013 that he knows Jang, Jang and Davis have said repeatedly they operate IBT independently. But The Guardi! an, combi! ng through corporate records, found other records that place Davis' professional involvement near Olivet's reach.
Davis once headed a financial news and research firm, IBTraders, which is now based in New York. IBTraders is now registered to an office building on Whitehall Street in lower Manhattan. A members-only club for Christian businessmen and women is based in the same building and is run by the World Olivet Assembly, The Guardian reported. Jang is the assembly's president, the report said.
Davis also didn't deny to The Guardian that he wrote in a Facebook post – since erased – that he thought the editorial about ex-gay therapy "was shockingly accurate."
He said his personal belief about homosexuality has no "bearing on my capacity here as the founder of the company. I'm not sure how it's relevant. People believe all sorts of weird things. But from a professional capacity, it's unrelated."
Jim Impoco, editor of Newsweek, tweeted Friday: "I'm super proud of the #LGBT coverage in @Newsweek, and grateful for our extraordinarily talented #LGBT staff."
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