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LVR-J Endorsement: VEGAS 411 Readers Speak Out

A controversial Trump endorsement by the Las Vegas Review-Journal has incited powerful reactions. Should major news outlets still promote a political agenda in turbulent 2024?

Our nation has never been so deeply embedded in something this surreal. A rapist and 34-time convicted felon is challenging a former Attorney General for the United States presidency. It’s a battle of Biblical and historic proportions. Whatever the outcome, our society will be changed forever.

For undecided voters, the media circus surrounding this election is causing as much harm as help. We’re well past the days of fact-based TV journalists like Walter Cronkite, Harry Reasoner, Howard K. Smith, John Chancellor, and Edward R. Murrow.

In their place, Americans have become numb to the biased (and often lie-filled) rantings of Laura Ingraham, Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson, and Peter Doocy. Then there are the scandals of once-respected anchors like Chris Cuomo, Dan Rather, Matt Lauer, and Brian Williams to consider.

Very few news outlets offer an unslanted take on the news. So who do you trust to deliver just the facts? Certainly not the Las Vegas Review-Journal, which was secretly purchased in late 2015 by the Sheldon Adelson family. They’re a group of billionaire Republicans intent on painting over black-and-white information with a palette of political views.

If you see this article as an example of the pot calling the kettle “black”, then maybe you’re a product of (or contributor to) the problem. This piece is clearly categorized as “opinion” and “editorial”. Readers should identify what they’re about to read, just as writers should be transparent with their intentions and sources. So, if you can’t handle an opinion-based piece, feel free to click on the next article.

It should also be obvious that this writer has no love for Donald J. Trump. I passionately believe a convicted felon has no right to run for the presidency. I hope that the next administration will pass laws to prevent this atrocity from happening again. How’s that for transparency?

My recent analysis of the Review-Journal detailed the Adelsons’ financial entanglements with Donald Trump. Money and power are their motivations in assisting a criminal’s return to the Oval Office. Simply put, Miriam Adelson is trying her best to buy the Presidency, just like her deceased husband Sheldon did in the previous two elections.

Miriam Adelson (left) and Donald Trump are financially and politically intertwined…

It should be stated that if the owners of VEGAS 411 were to officially endorse Trump on behalf of this site, I’d most likely be drafting a resignation letter within the hour. Do other members of today’s media feel this passionately? Are they willing to put ethics ahead of their financial security? Does anyone have a backbone anymore? Not the way they did in 2016 when the Adelsons’ takeover prompted a mass exodus at R-J.

John Katsilometes (left) with Bruno Mars

After the endorsement, I contacted my influential Review-Journal counterpart John Katsilometes. He’s their entertainment columnist and deeply embedded in that community. I felt compelled to learn John’s opinions on the controversial decision. Does he approve of his employer’s actions, and does he care how they may affect his readers, subjects, friends, and colleagues? Katsilometes ignored my queries. Interpret that as you will.

Integrity left the Review-Journal in 2016. Don’t expect it to return under Miriam Adelson.

In Part One, I posed two questions for our readers to consider. Regardless of your political alliances or choice for the Presidency, do you:

  1. …feel it’s appropriate for the Las Vegas Review-Journal to endorse a 2024 Presidential candidate?
  2. …think the Review-Journal’s endorsement of Donald Trump is harmful to the Las Vegas entertainment industry?

We promised to publish reactions sent to VEGAS 411 from our readers. Some are answers to the questions, others are free-flowing thoughts…all presented as received (unedited).

I read your excellent and enlightening article. It sickens me as a reader of the RJ that it would even consider endorsing Donald Trump. Makes me now feel that the only redeeming quality of the RJ is its puzzles and the Jumble! The RJ has been sucked into the MAGA “LCTU.” – John Sloan

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To answer your questions on FB about their endorsement for president.
1.  Do you feel it’s appropriate for the Las Vegas Review-Journal to endorse a 2024 Presidential candidate, no matter which candidate you personally back?
It is absolutely not OK! Regardless of who the candidates are, news outlets should be impartial. This diminishes my trust in our main newspaper even more.
2..Do you think R-J’s endorsement of Donald Trump is harmful to the Las Vegas entertainment industry?
Yes. I believe more people will feel distrusting of news from the RJ.
Ottavio Gesmundo MR. & MRS. G. 
Crossbow Specialty Act – Stunt Coordinator – Author – Director – Choreographer
G-Force Ultimate Entertainment
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1.  Do you feel it’s appropriate for the Las Vegas Review-Journal to endorse a 2024 Presidential candidate, no matter which candidate you personally back?
Answer: No! It is completely irresponsible in these chaotic times.
 The RJ has a long history of endorsing Republican candidates for president of the United States. 
They have always been biased and very strong in the political arena for the Republican Party. 
I personally do not think it is responsible nor helpful for our Las Vegas community. 
The RJ Has never had my respect. It is my feeling and opinion that the RJ is politically driven 24/7 all year long. Not just every four years.
2..Do you think R-J’s endorsement of Donald Trump is harmful to the Las Vegas entertainment industry?
Answer: No. 
Truth be known the entertainment industry here in Las Vegas leans heavily to the Right. 
The self proclaimed big-hitters meet up on a regular basis to smoke cigars, drink wine and claim their righteous selves. 
For me, I have complete disdain for Donald Trump. I would vote for Mickey Mouse before I would vote for him.
Thank you for the opportunity for me to answer your questions.
Respectfully, 
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1.  Do you feel it’s appropriate for the Las Vegas Review-Journal to endorse a 2024 Presidential candidate, no matter which candidate you personally back?

Las Vegas leans Democratic and for our only major paper to endorse a candidate is not appropriate.  Simply put it means half our city cannot trust them to report the news impartially. Report facts and let the readers do their due diligence and make choices but endorsing Donald Trump is very inappropriate.

2..Do you think R-J’s endorsement of Donald Trump is harmful to the Las Vegas entertainment industry?

This is a tougher question.  The casinos and their lobbies have bullied Las Vegas entertainers for a long time and I don’t think either party has done a good job backing them.  With that said, I think Donald Trump endangers some of the rights and civil liberties of many artists and entertainers in this town and the R-J Donald Trump endorsement seems to be a cheap shot rather than loyalty to the Vegas Entertainment Family.  Shame on them.

Thanks for including me in your information-gathering journey and hope to see what our Las Vegas Entertainment Family has to say.

Mad respect for doing this.

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Every media outlet (X, RJ, CNN, FOX) is controlled by someone with an agenda and enormous piles of money. This shouldn’t surprise anyone that they endorsed a candidate. And does it honestly make anyone go “Well if the RJ voted for that person, I’m going to.” 
Said no one ever.
It’ll only hurt their company and piss off half their audience. I miss the days when politics were boring and no one discussed or knew who the other people were voting for. – Vincent John
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Especially in the The Journalist Creed.
1) It is irresponsible
2) It aids division especially with already entitled Las Vegas so called headliners. Known singer and Magicians are the worst.
“No, it is not!  Sam Novak. Smart thing for a Newspaper is to report the news, and leave their opinions where they belong. Out of the News. News should always stay bipartisan and neutral. That today, is like looking for a needle in a haystack. …”A newspaper’s job is to inform and educate the public about current events and issues through news, features, and other information.” An endorsement is passing off an opinion in order to influence the public. The editors should know better! Sad thing is, … they do know better!
THE JOURNALIS’S OATH.
I believe in the profession of journalism.
I believe that the public journal is a public trust; that all connected with it are, to the full measure of their responsibility, trustees for the public; that acceptance of a lesser service than the public service is betrayal of this trust.
I believe that clear thinking and clear statement, accuracy and fairness are fundamental to good journalism.
I believe that a journalist should write only what he holds in his heart to be true.
I believe that suppression of the news, for any consideration other than the welfare of society, is indefensible.
I believe that no one should write as a journalist what he would not say as a gentleman; that bribery by one’s own pocketbook is as much to be avoided as bribery by the pocketbook of another; that individual responsibility may not be escaped by pleading another’s instructions or another’s dividends.
I believe that advertising, news and editorial columns should alike serve the best interests of readers; that a single standard of helpful truth and cleanness should prevail for all; that the supreme test of good journalism is the measure of its public service.
I believe that the journalism which succeeds best — and best deserves success — fears God and honors Man; is stoutly independent, unmoved by pride of opinion or greed of power, constructive, tolerant but never careless, self-controlled, patient, always respectful of its readers but always unafraid, is quickly indignant at injustice; is unswayed by the appeal of privilege or the clamor of the mob; seeks to give every man a chance and, as far as law and honest wage and recognition of human brotherhood can make it so, an equal chance; is profoundly patriotic while sincerely promoting international good will and cementing world-comradeship; is a journalism of humanity, of and for today’s world.
SO NO! A NEWSPAPER AS AN ENTITY SHOULD NEVER TAKE A SIDE. THAT IS BIAS AND THEY KNOW BETTER.THAT’S ON ANY TOPIC,  (POLITICAL OR NOT).
JUST REPORT THE FACTS AND DO YOUR HOMEWORK.”
Have an awesome day Sam. I am with you on this.
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Endorsements by newspapers don’t offend me. It’s certainly not a new concept, and I don’t know how many newspapers in this day and age abstain from endorsing in elections, locally or otherwise. Even my community newspaper group endorses candidates at the state election level. Under different ownership in the past, my newspaper endorsed candidates for local city council and school board elections. That certainly created hard feelings, and occasionally I was supposed to defend the newspaper’s endorsements, which I had to play a part in, despite the fact I was the reporter covering the elected body. That’s far more of a challenging situation than a major metro daily paper endorsing in the presidential election.
It’s just not that offensive for a newspaper to have a section for sharing opinions, and to have a separate staff working on that section expressing the ownership’s opinion.
An endorsement is not a statement of fact, it’s the opinion of a group of employees that are separate from the newsroom. And of course it usually reflects the ownership of the newspaper.
An endorsement is part of a conversation. Just as the newspaper provides a platform for opinions within the community it covers, it is sharing the viewpoint of the ownership and management of the newspaper. This poses no problem for people who believe in the exchange of opinions and ideas. How many Harris supporters are going to change their mind based upon the opinion of the newspaper? Probably less than zero.
Of course the assumption is that the opinions of the editorial staff and ownership affect the news coverage. I’m not going to suggest that ownership never influences what a newspaper does or doesn’t cover, but it’s not as rampant as people want to believe.
But back to the point, endorsements don’t seem to upset readership when the readers agree with the endorsement. I never hear people say they agree with an endorsement wholeheartedly, but the newspaper needs to stop having an opinion in its opinion section. That’s not to say people don’t share the sentiment, but nobody seems to question the role of the newspaper in a community conversation until they disagree with the endorsement.
And no, an RJ endorsement won’t change much, big picture. It won’t change anything in Las Vegas, and it won’t change much for the newspaper. Regardless of whether or not people agree with the endorsement, or if a few hundred people actually cancel subscriptions to the RJ because of the endorsement, as I have read claims of, all the endorsement might do is hasten the eventual demise of the daily paper by a few days. – Mike Weeks, VegasInsight
Social media for the Las Vegas Review-Journal has been filled with comments from readers vowing to cancel their subscriptions. My inbox is receiving requests to re-subscribe as well. But when a newspaper’s owner is worth $34 billion, you can afford to thumb your nose at half a city’s population.
There are roughly 500 employees at LVR-J, and they are essentially Miriam Adelson’s worker bees. Those who practice ethical journalism might want to start sending out job applications. Nothing good lasts forever, and something this rotten deserves to be buried by a dog.
I’m not convinced even major newspapers across the country are immune from death. We live in a world where more people rely on the Twitter News Network than a dedicated newspaper, regardless of the political persuasion of the ownership. – Mike Weeks, VegasInsight

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