That’s the $64,000 question in Las Vegas right now, especially given the secretive manner by which Adelson acquired the paper. On Dec. 11, Review-Journal readers awoke to learn that the paper had been purchased by anonymous parties identified only as News + Media Capital Group, a Delaware-registered corporation, for $140 million – a substantial markup from what previous owner GateHouse Media had paid for the R-J less than a year earlier. "The amount points to investors with deep pockets and a perhaps even deeper desire to own Nevada's biggest newspaper even though the paper’s revenues, like those of all print publications, have been in decline," wrote the R-J’s James DeHaven.
New York University professor Jay Rosen was prescient when he told DeHaven, "Nevada is an early primary state. The Review-Journal is the largest newspaper in the state," Rosen observed. "Was it sold to a player in that event, or people who want to be players?" Neither Michael Schroeder, manager of News + Media, nor R-J Publisher Jason Taylor, would comment on the sale and the R-J’s own coverage had quotes stricken at the new ownership’s behest.
Given the premium paid for the R-J and the attention-grabbing secrecy of the purchase, the finger of suspicion quickly pointed to Sheldon Adelson, the area’s most-vocal – if historically ineffective -- political player. This put the newspaper in the unusual position of having to make itself the leading topic of its own coverage.
It got scooped by Fortune, which (on Dec. 16) blew the whistle on the worst-kept secret in town. Patrick Dumont, a Las Vegas Sands executive and Adelson’s son-in-law, had negotiated the purchase "at the behest of his father-in-law." The R-J was quick to follow up in depth.
Already the Society of Professional Journalists and other media watchdogs were ratcheting up the pressure on News + Media to come clean about its backers. How, they reasoned, could R-J reporters steer clear of conflicts of interests if they didn’t know who was signing their paychecks? Schroeder’s own efforts to draw a veil of secrecy over the sale were blown when R-J staffers learned he was staying at a suite in Adelson’s Venetian megaresort.
In a public statement attributed to "the Adelson family," the latter claimed that the lumbering subterfuge was needed so as not to "distract from the important role Nevada continues to play in the 2016 presidential election." Ironically, the focus on the Adelson hanky-panky with the R-J had the very opposite effect, upstaging a GOP presidential debate held at the Venetian. To their credit, the Adelsons said they wanted "a journalism product that is second-to-none [sic] and will continue to invest in the paper to achieve this goal." That’s quite a turnaround from the days of GateHouse precursor Stephens Media, which was killing the R-J via the death by a thousand cuts.
While Adelson has financial interests in Israel, including a free daily that is regarded as a mouthpiece for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, there was puzzlement as to what impact he hoped to achieve in Las Vegas. As former R-J staffer Steve Friess wrote in Time, "The R-J has one of the lowest levels of readership penetration of any major American city, so its editorial views have precious little impact." Indeed, a 2010 jihad against Sen. Harry Reid (D) by then-Publisher Sherman Frederick didn’t put a dent in Reid’s reelection campaign but cratered the subscription base so deeply that it helped cost Frederick his job.
Given the R-J’s traditionally right-wing tilt, Friess wondered why Adelson would bother buying a newspaper that already agreed with him on virtually everything: "[Barack] Obama is bad for America, unions are destructive, and the U.S. needs to do everything Israel needs. Why buy the cow when you get the GOP-flavored milk for free?"
Even Adelson, in Macao to open a St. Regis hotel, acknowledged, "The Review-Journal is already on my side of the political spectrum." However, he allowed that "We may take some of the positive characteristics of our Israeli newspaper and add them to there, but that’s all just suggestions." Mind you, when Sheldon Adelson makes a ‘suggestion’ in Las Vegas, it tends to reverberate rather loudly. According to Mashable, "He’s also made comments about intentions to grow a media empire as a means of political power."
"It’s my estimate the [Israel Hayom] loses about $10 million a year," said retired journalist Doron Galazer of Adelson’s other big media investment. "But I don't think it bothers Adelson. I'm sure he is prepared to invest many more years, and a lot more money to keep Benjamin Netanyahu in power." If that’s the case in Israel, how much money is Adelson prepared to lose here on behalf of his pet causes?
Washington Post columnist Callum Borchers raised the possibility that Adelson might impose his agenda on the paper in non-electoral ways, trying reverse its support of online poker – an Adelson bête noir -- and the Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority, which the mogul once accused of being engaged in "a conspiracy to steal money from me."
Tomorrow: Is Adelson’s influence already being felt?
