• by Erik Sass , Staff Writer @eriksass1, February 5, 2016

All the concern about the editorial independence of the Las Vegas Review-Journal was apparently more than justified, according to media expert and consultant Ken Doctor. He writes in a Politicoarticle that Adelson’s influence is already being felt in the newsroom – and not in a good way.

Doctor’s article, drawing on his vast network of contacts across the media business, includes this shocking and discouraging revelation: “A new publisher has appeared overnight at the paper, a new editor will be installed as soon as Friday, and, sources tell me, stories involving new owner Sheldon Adelson are being reviewed, changed or killed almost daily.”

Doctor goes on: “Further, the newsroom is abuzz with word of a list of a half a dozen or so journalists whose work has rubbed Adelson the wrong way over the years, and who may soon be targeted for departure in what one insider describes as a ‘house-cleaning.’”

Recently appointed publisher Craig Moon, far from safeguarding the independent newsroom, has apparently revoked the principles outlining how the newspaper would cover Adelson, which were printed on page three every day.

Yikes! So there goes the newspaper, more or less.

For Adelson, a central player in Nevada’s critical casino industry, to be openly meddling in the editorial operations of the state’s biggest newspaper, is not technically a crime – but it will undoubtedly put its reputation through the wringer.

As noted in a previous post, just last week, the LVRJ ran an op-ed supporting a new stadium for Las Vegas – but at least that appeared on the editorial page. Now that Adelson is influencing straight news reporting, anything is possible – smearing rivals and unsympathetic officials, militating for relaxed gaming regulations, puff pieces on his own properties, you name it.

If nothing else, readers are going to begin to wonder what isn’t in the newspaper, in addition to what is.