Report Claims That Big Political Funder Sheldon Adelson Is The 'Anonymous' Owner Of Las Vegas Newspaper

from the well,-that's-a-fun-one dept

Earlier this week, we wrote about the truly bizarre situation in which the Las Vegas Review Journal -- the largest newspaper in Nevada -- had been purchased for $140 million... and no one knew who the owner was. For fairly obvious reasons, this started to make a lot of people uncomfortable -- including the reporters for the NVRJ. Suspicion quickly focused on big time political funders, with some noting that Nevada is an early primary state, and may play a key role in the presidential election. The Koch brothers, who are big time funders of candidates flat out denied it, leading to more intense scrutiny on the other key guess: Las Vegas casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, a key funder of Mitt Romney in the last election.

Now, Dan Primack at Fortune is claiming that Adelson did, in fact purchase the paper, using the newly formed News + Media Capital Group LLC as a shell to try (apparently not very well) to hide that fact:

For nearly a week, the media and political worlds have been wondering who paid $140 million to purchase Nevada’s largest daily newspaper, The Las Vegas Review-Journal. The primary buyer had taken great pains to remain anonymous, but Fortune has learned from multiple sources familiar with the situation that it is Sheldon Adelson, chairman and CEO of casino operator Las Vegas Sands Corp.

The LVRJ itself had been investigating the issue and provided a bunch of supporting evidence for why Adelson was the likely buyer.

The Fortune report wonders if Adelson really only wanted to keep it secret until after last night's debate -- which he hosted -- had passed. Though that doesn't really make much sense. Either way, by trying to be secretive about it, the only end result is putting that much more attention on the fact that he's the buyer. If the idea was to subtly influence viewpoints, that may have backfired.

Filed Under: funding, journalism, las vegas review journal, newspaper, sheldon adelson
Companies: las vegas review journal, lvrj, news + media capital group

Las Vegas Review-Journal Now Owned By... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

from the ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ dept

The last time we wrote about the Las Vegas Review-Journal -- the largest newspaper in Nevada -- it was owned by Stephens Media and was making headlines for using the LVRJ as a copyright troll, pretending to sell its copyrights to a company called Righthaven. That scam fell apart when it was discovered that Righthaven didn't really own the copyrights it was suing over. Since then, the LVRJ has changed hands a couple times. Stephens Media sold the paper to New Media Investment Group earlier this year. And then, last week, it was announced that "New Media Investment Group" had sold the newspaper to News + Media Capital Group LLC, for $140 million. News + Media Capital Group LLC is a brand new Delaware-based company, and no one has the slightest clue who they are, including all the folks working for the LVRJ.

Who was willing to buy remains a secret.

News + Media manager Michael Schroeder has declined to disclose the company's investors, as has Las Vegas Review-Journal Publisher Jason Taylor.

In discussions with employees, Taylor has said only that News + Media has multiple owner/investors, that some are from Las Vegas, and that in face-to-face meetings he has been assured that the group will not meddle in the newspaper's editorial content.

As you might imagine, that has some of the folks working there more than a bit uncomfortable:

Several staffers at the Review-Journal, the largest media outlet in Nevada, have questioned their new owner's decision to remain secret, an unusual arrangement that's stunned not only the newsroom, but journalists nationwide.

Sean Whaley, a capital bureau reporter based in Carson City, tweeted Saturday night that he was "offended & embarrassed" that the paper's new owner -- News + Media Capital Group LLC -- has not disclosed its financial backers since announcing Thursday night that it had acquired the paper.

And, contrary to the claims that these new mysterious owners won't meddle in the editorial... there is some evidence they already have:

The publisher of the Las Vegas Review-Journal removed quotes from a Thursday night article about the newspaper's sale that questioned its new owner's decision to remain anonymous, according to a newsroom source.

Around midnight Thursday, publisher Jason Taylor had editors remove a quote from Michael Schroeder, manager for News + Media Capital Group LLC, the undisclosed financial backers taking over the paper. In the original version, Schroeder, who also runs four community papers as president and CEO of Central Connecticut Publishing, was quoted telling Review-Journal staffers at a Thursday meeting that they shouldn't worry about the identities of the owners.

The original article also included quotes from editor Michael Hengel expressing concerns about the secretive ownership arrangement.

There's lots of speculation that the mysterious unnamed owners are looking to use the paper for political purposes, and the failure to name who they are only contributes to that fear.

The whole thing is just bizarre in general, and it wouldn't surprise me to see reporters and staffers at the LVRJ consider looking for jobs elsewhere. While sometimes it seems like the question of who owns a newspaper gets overblown in the question of how that newspaper covers certain stories, at least the ownership is generally known to the public (and the people working there). Not having any information at all... is just weird.

Filed Under: journalism, las vegas review journal, ownership
Companies: las vegas review journal, new media investment group, news + media capital group, stephens media