Yesterday, we covered the secrecy with which Sheldon Adelson purchased the Review-Journal and the political agenda(s) that might have motivated it. Adelson, after all, fancies himself an electoral kingmaker, even if veteran journalist Steve Friess calls him, "perhaps the most inept, clueless and ineffective political player in America."
Politics aside, Adelson has other reasons for buying the paper, including the fact that the R-J not only covers his companies but also the not-infrequent litigation in which he is enmeshed. Before Adelson purchased the newspaper from GateHouse Media (a deal that reportedly took six to eight months to consummate), the latter was "engaged to tackle an investigative story in Las Vegas with no knowledge of the prospective new buyer."
The R-J was tasked to cover three judges, sending reporters to sit in on their courtrooms for days on end, keep diaries and generally get an idea of their effectiveness. "We’ve simply been told we must do it, and it must start on Tuesday," Deputy Editor James G. Wright wrote in an internal memo. Adds Editor Michael Hengel, "When the request was handed down, it seemed like little more than a waste of time and resources. I still think it was a waste of time, but now I wonder what really was behind it."
As it happened, the R-J chose to cover Judge Elizabeth Gonzalez, a high-profile figure due to the fact that she is presiding on a lawsuit over Adelson’s termination of Sands China CEO Steven Jacobs. Gonzalez has not only clashed with Adelson when he took the witness stand, she has fined Las Vegas Sands for withholding evidence. The only product of the R-J’s exhaustive presence in Gonzalez’s courtroom was a story in the New Britain Herald by obscure reporter Edward Clarkin. It attacked Gonzalez at length as a judge who "undermines the rationale for the creation of [business] courts in the first place — which was to provide reliable consistency, even predictability in the resolution of frequently recurring issues."
And what is the significance of the New Britain Herald? It is owned by Michael Schroeder, the same Schroeder who manages News + Media Capital Group, Adelson’s R-J-owning stalking horse. The episode has cast an ominous shadow over the Adelson era at the R-J, as it appears that the newspaper’s resources were being used to do his bidding – remember, his people were already in talks with GateHouse when the bizarre directive came down from headquarters.
Adelson’s purchase became such a distraction from business as usual at the R-J that the newspaper felt compelled to run a lengthy, front-page editorial, which read in part, "You can be assured that if the Adelsons attempt to skew coverage, by ordering some stories covered and others killed or watered down, the Review-Journal’s editors and reporters will fight it. … One way is to look at how we covered the secrecy surrounding the newspaper’s sale. We dug in. We refused to stand down. We will fight for your trust. Every. Single. Day. Even if our former owners and current operators don’t want us to."
As Forbes columnist John McQuaid noted, "At minimum, the paper’s staff will have to work overtime merely to account for all the conflicts of interest that go with Adelson’s ownership." For instance, every gaming story will have to carry a disclaimer -- and already does – that Sheldon Adelson owns the newspaper you are reading. Added McQuaid, "the hamfisted approach says, we do what we want and don’t care what you think."
R-J columnist and "Bard of the Boulevard" John L. Smith, who has been personally bankrupted by an Adelson lawsuit, wrote that the tycoon "is precisely the wrong person to own this or any newspaper. His disdain for the working press and its prickly processes is palpable — and easily illustrated by his well-known litigiousness."
While he allowed that "a local ownership group might bring an improved sensitivity to the needs of the community in one of America's most complex company towns," Smith added, "Where's the firewall between ownership and the newsroom? Given Adelson's reputation as a micromanager, it had better be made of asbestos." In the meantime, in a gesture of defiance perhaps, the R-J continues to run stock photos of Adelson on Judge Gonzalez’s witness stand, wearing an unkempt toupee that resembles nothing so much as a mohair beanie.
So far, the Adelsons are making most of the right noises, saying things like, "We believe in this community and want to help make Las Vegas an even greater place to live. We believe deeply that a strong and effective daily newspaper plays a critical role in keeping our state apprised of the important news and issues we face on a daily basis." However, their actions, to date, are reason to give one pause.
