{"id":3050,"date":"2016-04-29T19:02:57","date_gmt":"2016-04-30T02:02:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/?p=3050"},"modified":"2016-05-06T21:36:50","modified_gmt":"2016-05-07T04:36:50","slug":"adelson-henchmen-cleaning-house","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/?p=3050","title":{"rendered":"Adelson henchmen cleaning house"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"0426johsmithjpg-master768\"<\/a><\/p>\n

My friend John L Smith — 30-year star columnist of the (still) daily Las Vegas Review-Journal — resigned Tuesday after the paper\u2019s new casino mouthpiece management banned him from writing columns about the newspaper\u2019s owner, billionaire casino owner Sheldon Adelson, The Guardian reported this week at http:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2016\/apr\/26\/columnist-resigns-sheldon-adelson-las-vegas-review-journal<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In a letter that he distributed in the newsroom, Smith said that due to \u201crecent events\u201d he will \u201cno longer remain employed\u201d by the company.<\/p>\n

\u201cI learned many years ago about the importance of not punching down in weight class. You don\u2019t hit \u2018little people\u2019 in this craft,\u201d Smith wrote, \u201cyou defend them. In Las Vegas, a quintessential company town, it\u2019s the blowhard billionaires and their political toadies who are worth punching. And if you don\u2019t have the freedom to call the community\u2019s heavyweights to account, then that \u2018commentary\u2019 tag isn\u2019t worth the paper on which it\u2019s printed.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Review-Journal\u2019s new editor, Keith Moyer, made the gag order public last Saturday during a local meeting of the Society of Professional Journalists at UNLV, saying \u201cAs long as I\u2019m editor, John won\u2019t write about Sheldon Adelson.\u201d<\/p>\n

Moyer claimed the policy was due to a conflict of interest, citing Adelson\u2019s failed defamation suit against Smith in 2005 regarding a passage from his book \u201cSharks in the Desert: The Founding Fathers and Current Kings of Las Vegas.\u201d<\/p>\n

That case was thrown out, but not before the legal proceedings bankrupted the columnist, whose daughter was undergoing brain cancer treatment at the time, The Guardian reminds us. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf a Las Vegas columnist is considered \u2018conflicted\u2019 because he\u2019s been unsuccessfully sued by two of the most powerful and outspoken players in the gaming industry, then it\u2019s time to move on,\u201d Smith wrote in his letter.<\/p>\n

Calling Adelson the \u201cbullyboy of Las Vegas Boulevard\u201d in a 2013 Daily Beast story about the defamation suit, Smith said: \u201cAt its dark heart, the case wasn\u2019t about defamation, but about making me an object lesson for my newspaper and other journalists who dared to criticize the billionaire.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"imrs\"<\/a><\/p>\n

One of the richest men in the world, Adelson bought the Review-Journal in December 2015, but for weeks attempted to keep the identity of the new owner secret. Once the Adelson family was revealed as the new owners, they vowed not to interfere in news coverage. For a time, a list of rules designed to prevent such meddling ran on page three. That list disappeared as soon as Craig Moon was named Adelson\u2019s new publisher, early this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cAccording to a Politico source, Smith was first told not to write about Adelson on Jan. 28, the same day that Craig Moon was named publisher of the paper,\u201d writes former R-J editor Tom Mitchell at https:\/\/4thst8.wordpress.com\/<\/a> . (Moon, former publisher of USA Today, does not appear to have had a full-time newspaper job since 2009. Politico reports one of his duties at his new post is to carefully screen stories about Adelson\u2019s plans to bring the Oakland Raiders NFL franchise to town, tailoring any reference to the fact that the deal might include a requirement that $600 million in tax dollars be diverted to help build a stadium — the kind of provision that for more than 20 years the old, let’s-downsize-government Review-Journal would carefully warn was a \u201cdeal-killer,\u201d but which today’s Review-Journal (surprise!) now calls a “must-do.” (See http:\/\/www.capitalnewyork.com\/article\/media\/2016\/02\/8590189\/sheldon-adelson-tightens-grip-review-journal<\/a> .)<\/p>\n

But the Jane. 28 gag order “did not become public until Saturday,\u201d Mitchell reports on his blog, \u201cwhen Moyer used the excuse of the lawsuit as a conflict of interest, even though the suit was thrown out and Smith had written about Adelson many times over the years since then.”<\/p>\n

\"1004815604_keith_moyer_0205_1_0\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI will tell you that John Smith and Sheldon Adelson have some personal — they have a long history, a legal history. Frankly, I personally think it was a conflict for John to write about Sheldon. The fact that he was [writing about Adelson] was a problem. It wasn\u2019t right,\u201d Politico quotes Moyer as saying during the meeting. \u201cAs long as I\u2019m editor, John won\u2019t write about Sheldon Adelson.\u201d<\/p>\n

Moyer, who\u2019s been editor of the Vegas paper for months, apparently learned over the weekend that “Mirage” developer Steve Wynn had also had sued Smith unsuccessfully for libel, years ago -\u2013 not about anything contained in Smith\u2019s 1995 Wynn book, \u201cRunning Scared,\u201d but over a publisher\u2019s advertisement for the book — an advertisement that Smith had no role in writing.<\/p>\n

So Moyer reportedly told Smith Monday that he couldn\u2019t write about Wynn, either.<\/p>\n

(I wonder when they\u2019ll tell him prostitution is legal in Nevada? Oh, wait. I bet he checked.)<\/p>\n

SUIT THROWN OUT \u2018WITH PREJUDICE\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

Adelson sued Smith in 2005 over a passage in a book called \u201cSharks in the Desert\u201d that Adelson\u2019s attorneys said contained a false implication that Adelson \u201cwas associated with unsavory characters and unsavory activities.\u201d (In fact, the book indicates a young Adelson did well to survive in the candy-vending-machine business in Boston, despite <\/em>the fact the business had a reputation for being dominated by unsavory characters.)<\/p>\n

The case was dismissed in 2008 when Smith\u2019s attorney obtained access to confidential Gaming Control Board records relating to Adelson\u2019s gaming license, Mitchell recalls. \u201cHad the case gone to trial, that could have become evidence. But with the dismissal it remains sealed.\u201d<\/p>\n

In an affidavit filed in the case, attorney Don Campbell wrote that the \u201cmost compelling reason for Adelson\u2019s dramatic desire to dismiss was unquestionably the fact that Smith was about to acquire evidence from the Gaming Control Board which would, by any reasonable analysis, lend itself to thoroughly impeaching critical portions of Mr. Adelson\u2019s sworn testimony as it related to his personal and business history. . . . In short, Adelson\u2019s claims were about to be exposed for what they were . . . false and vindictive.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to NPR, then-interim managing editor Glenn Cook had told Smith he could not write about Adelson back in January, Mitchell reports. When Smith replied, \u201cHe\u2019s the one who sued me, he lost, and I\u2019m conflicted?\u201d Smith says Cook told him: \u201cYou can\u2019t do it or you\u2019ll be fired.\u201d<\/p>\n

Moyer told NPR, \u201cI never suggested or believed John would use his column to settle a personal score, but if his writing on Adelson and Wynn created even a perception of score settling in the minds of readers, then it would have reflected on the credibility of the institution. Invoking \u2018conflict of interest\u2019 restrictions might not be common in Nevada, but they are elsewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tom Mitchell reminds us that, in dismissing Adelson\u2019s lawsuit against Smith, Bankruptcy Judge Bruce Markell also noted that as a journalist and author, Smith\u2019s reputation is a valuable asset. The judge thus made clear several times, despite a settlement by the book publisher, that Smith was the \u201cprevailing party\u201d in that case and that any characterization to the contrary by Adelson might itself be defamatory.<\/p>\n

\"sands<\/a><\/p>\n

I SEEK SOME CLARIFICATION FROM \u2018BENT-NOSE TONY\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

What does all this mean for the future of newspaper coverage of the casino industry — and of the plans of Mr. Adelson and his associates to further enrich themselves using tax dollars to build themselves a big stadium — in Las Vegas? Seeking some expert guidance, I called my buddy Patrice \u201cBent-Nose Tony\u201d LaGumba, proprietor of the Venus de Milo casino and nightclub, one long block off the Las Vegas strip, to remind him that the R-J\u2019s new editor, J. Keith Moyer — who mysteriously departed as publisher of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune shortly after Avista Capital Partners bought that headed-for-bankruptcy paper in late 2006 and apparently hadn\u2019t worked at an actual newspaper for nine years -\u2013 bragged upon his arrival here a few months back that he intends to \u201cbuild the Review-Journal into a regional media force,\u201d that \u201cPlans he’s weighing include greater emphasis on investigative and enterprise reporting.\u201d<\/p>\n

(I believe five new editors and publishers have now made such speeches at the R-J in the past four years. The major change introduced by one — other than the big layoffs? “Department heads” became “team leaders.”)<\/p>\n

Does Tony worry about rumors that said investigative reporting might include a probe into alleged money-laundering there at the Venus de Milo, as well as repeated rumors that some of Tony\u2019s senior \u201ccasino hosts\u201d have long-standing ties to the Cleveland mob?<\/p>\n

\u201cVinnie, you got it all wrong. We like this Keith Moyer guy. He\u2019s a guy we can work with, if you catch my meaning, just like I know we can always work with my friend Sheldon Adelson, who by the way I have never met or associated with, as I\u2019m sure you will be careful to note.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo concerns?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t you read the paper, Vinnie? My attorney assures me that Mr. Moyer has used this whole John L. Smith matter to send us a message, and a very warm and convivial message, at that. Let us say he should hire this four-man investigative team, as it is rumored, and that they should then be so misguided as to look into these old, long-discredited rumors about skimming and money-laundering here at the Venus de Milo.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOK, let\u2019s.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThen all we would need to do is to file a libel lawsuit against said reporters, contending that in their previous mentions of me and my establishment in print, they have tended to cast me in a bad light.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut you\u2019d have to prove that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo! Vinnie, that\u2019s the beauty of the thing. We don\u2019t have to prove nothin\u2019. For the cost of the filin\u2019 fee, I can sue these kids even if the only time they previously mentioned my fine establishment was to write up our two-for-one Monday-night buffet, which I would be remiss if I did not mention is a great bargain, by the way, with all-you-can-eat crab legs. So let us say the judge then throws out our libel action as frivolous, rules it\u2019s nothin\u2019 but an attempt at intimidation, dismisses the thing with prejudice, says the defendant plaintiff reporters are the \u2018prevailin\u2019 party,\u2019 makes us pay these little reporters\u2019 court costs — just like the court threw out them suits against John L. Smith by Mr. Wynn and Mr. Adelson — neither of whom I have ever met or been associated with, by the way.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the beauty of the thing. It don\u2019t matter. Mr. Moyer the editor\u2019s new rule is that if a reporter has ever been sued by a business owner, said reporter can\u2019t ever write about or mention said business owner in print in his newspaper, ever again. Right? He didn\u2019t say nothin\u2019 about the suit has to hold up in court, or the reporter has to be found in the wrong. Just gettin’ sued gives them a ‘conflict of interest’ that puts a lock on their keyboards. So if these little \u2018investigative reporters\u2019 don\u2019t get the point, we just have a few of our other friends in the gaming industry — none of whom I have ever met or been associated with, you understand — sue them for libel, as well. Pretty soon the only thing they\u2019ll be doin’ any \u2018investigative reportin\u2019 about is girls\u2019 high-school softball. Get it?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, I see. So you don\u2019t feel a need to worry about a lot of in-depth coverage of your industry in the new, improved, Sheldon-Adelson-owned Review-Journal?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Miss-Atomic-1957\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cOh, I wouldn\u2019t say that. We\u2019re very excited about this new approach at the newspaper. You know, when I first came to this town as a young security consultant 50 years ago, the Review-Journal had really great gamin’ coverage. You opened to the \u201cCasino News\u201d page, and there you\u2019d find two really big pitchers, one of a couple of showgirls relaxin’ in their bathin’ suits by the pool, sometimes watchin’ the horizon for the A-bomb tests to go off, and the second pitcher would show some big winner, some housewife from Moline who\u2019d won a big Keno Jackpot at the Frontier or the Stardust, blowin\u2019 kisses and wavin\u2019 a big wad o’ greenbacks.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was it. None of this borin\u2019 stuff about loans from union pension funds and clumsy card-counters fallin’ down and unfortunately breakin’ their arms and guys jumpin’ out of tall winders after they lost their bankrolls, stuff that just gets people confused and depressed. This was all handled by just payin\u2019 certain editors at the time a modest \u2018consultin\u2019 fee,\u2019 you understand. Not that I believe that would any longer be necessary, today. But that\u2019s the kind of coverage of our industry that we\u2019ve always appreciated, let me tell you, and I feel sure that with our new friends Mr. Moon and Mr. Moyer in charge down there on West Bonanza, that\u2019s the kind of positive, supportive coverage of our industry we can expect to see, again.<\/p>\n

“Speakin\u2019 of which, if you and any other employees of Mr. Adelson are ever lookin\u2019 for a good time, youse just give me a call and come on down to the Venus de Milo — you\u2019ll find everythin\u2019 here is \u2018on the house,\u2019 if you catch my meaning.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I don\u2019t work for Mr. Adelson, Tony.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, right. I gotcha. Never met him, I\u2019m sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cReally, Tony.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cRight, right. Nice talkin’ to ya, Vinnie. Call any time.\u201d<\/p>\n

OK, I invented my buddy Bent-Nose Tony LaGumba. But I didn’t make up Shermam Frederick, who was the publisher of the Review-Journal in the days long before it was bought up by a petty and vindictive billionaire who laughably promised not to interfere in the paper’s editorial content, a character who — if he’d wanted to show he was really a big man — could have made it clear to his resurrected front men Messrs. Moon and Moyer that he wanted the gentlemanly John L. Smith left free to write anything he wanted about Sheldon Adelson.<\/p>\n

And it was Sherman Frederick who commented on Tom Mitchell’s blog, this week: “So, if you want to stop an RJ writer from writing about you, you sue ’em? That’s an unsustainable standard.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My friend John L Smith — 30-year star columnist of the (still) daily Las Vegas Review-Journal — resigned Tuesday after the paper\u2019s new casino mouthpiece management banned him from writing columns about the newspaper\u2019s owner, billionaire casino owner Sheldon Adelson, The Guardian reported this week at http:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2016\/apr\/26\/columnist-resigns-sheldon-adelson-las-vegas-review-journal. In a letter that he distributed in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[36,29,22,34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3050","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-about-town","category-heroes","category-media","category-nevada"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pWqFl-Nc","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3050","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3050"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3050\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3104,"href":"https:\/\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3050\/revisions\/3104"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3050"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3050"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}