While Las Vegas Review-Journal Publisher Sherman Frederick was fretting about the “troubling egg caper” in Searchlight, Nev., his newspaper wasn’t losing much sleep over a double-barreled casino scandal. Either a sudden malady had wiped out the gaming desk or somebody boneheadedly gave casino reporters Howard Stutz and Arnold Knightly simultaneous vacations. Whatever the cause, neither was available when the story broke, leaving reporter-of-all-work Jennifer Robison to fill in, which she did capably. (Even the dreaded John G. Edwards was filing gaming-related copy, so shorthanded was the R-J last week.)
Although the resultant story — which the R-J buried in its Saturday edition (long after the story had broken) — was unusually thorough by R-J standards and came to extremely sound, well-argued conclusions, it soft-soaped a couple of critical points. Yes, the Nevada Gaming Control Board is scrutinizing the Las Vegas Sands/triad imbroglio and no, the NGCB isn’t reopening its Pansy Ho [above]/MGM Mirage suitability check. That information was readily available from secondary sources — which the Sun had reprinted two days earlier — but R-J readers got:
“Nevada gaming regulators didn’t respond to requests for comment on whether they’d look into Reuters‘ allegations.
“Nor did Nevada gaming regulators reply to an e-mail Friday seeking comment on whether they would revisit their 2007 approval of the Pansy Ho-MGM Mirage joint venture.”
That’s weak and inexcusable (and sounds like the story was a Friday-morning editorial afterthought). Also, to characterize the Reuters report as “allegations” ignores the considerable amount of substantiated fact it contained … none of which discredited Sands, so why the delicate tone?
But if the R-J was tardy and seemingly reluctant, the Pulitzer Prize-winning Las Vegas Sun dove under the table. It acknowledged the events in Illinois and Nevada simply by reprinting a few paragraphs from Reuters and The Associated Press. Of course, had Greenspun Media not sacked top-flight investigative reporter Jeff German, this might be a very different situation.
Whatever the reason, the dailies have all but flunked this test. I’d give the Sun a D- at most (although you can make a good case for an “F”), while the R-J would get a B+ for reportage and a D for editorial dilly-dallying.
A journalistic relief column (no pun intended) appeared over the horizon today, in the form of a Jane Ann Morrison piece that both synopsized the New Jersey report that damned MGM’s methods of gaining entry to Macao but also included some additional digging into the speedy, ignominious departure of former General Counsel Gary Jacobs. It seems the Jacobs not only withheld information from regulators but from his own bosses.
Discredit also falls upon security chief Kyle Edwards, who knew Jacobs was keeping secrets but stayed mum himself — even though he was on MGM’s compliance committee. The good news is that all of the miscreants are now out of the company. The bad news is that Morrison has provided more insight in one column than have the entire R-J and Sun business desks combined. Unbelievable.
Former North Las Vegas mayor and gubernatorial aspirant Michael Montandon is at the opposite end of the political spectrum from yours truly. However, funny is funny and Montandon’s newest ad is that rara avis, a campaign spot that’s actually amusing. Whatever one thinks of the product, its marketing is too good not to share.
