Home » Blog - Don Irvine » LV Newspaper Cleans House Shortly After Reid Win

LV Newspaper Cleans House Shortly After Reid Win

Don Irvine  —   November 14, 2010
3 Comments   |   Printer Friendly Tags:     


  Pin It
 
 

The Las Vegas Review-Journal which heavily supported Sharron Angle in Nevada Senate race is replacing both its editor and publisher but denies the moves have anything to do with the outcome of the election.

From LasVegasHappensHere.com

News just broke that R-J publisher Sherm Frederick is stepping down as publisher of the newspaper and as CEO of Stephens Media and Thomas Mitchell is out as editor. And yet, there’s even more to it than that.

Not in their story? Allan B. Fleming, the Review-Journal’s general manager, is also out. And Mitchell is getting a new gig created for him, some sort of senior editorial page editor role.
The article published by the R-J announcing this posits that Sherm is leaving for health reasons, and he certainly has had a rough year with surgeries for prostate and heart ailments this summer.
But the real explanation of what’s happening here? Harry Reid won.
An extremely knowledgable source at the paper called this move a “shakeout” and a “head slap” from the top, meaning the owners back in Arkansas. He reminded me that the Stephens family are big Washington D.C. players, with banking interests and other issues to deal with in Congress. They may have supported Republican candidates, but the over-the-top efforts by Sherm Frederick and Thomas Mitchell to support Sharron Angle and unrelentingly beat up on the Senate Majority Leader was exceptional. It was nasty and personal and harmed the reporters’ ability to have their work taken credibly, but even more importantly, if the Stephens clan wanted to make nice with Harry Reid, the only way to do it was to get rid of Frederick and Mitchell.
It’s entertaining that the newspaper tried to soft-pedal this news, leaving out the Fleming angle and reducing to the very last paragraph the fact that Mitchell was also departing from his role. Those are the clues that this is a much bigger change than just an ailing publisher choosing to reduce his stress load.
It may very well be that the Journal just happened to find themselves looking for a new editor and publisher but the timing coming so close on the heels of Harry Reid’s miraculous victory almost two weeks ago does make it seem that there is more to the story than the owners are telling the public.
It’s never good policy for a newspaper or any media entity to shill for one candidate over another and it looks like the Review-Journal brass learned that lesson the hard way.
Be that as it may I am surprised that with the recession having taken a tremendous toll on Las Vegas that the city still has a newspaper left at all let alone two.

About the author
Don Irvine
Don Irvine is Chairman of Accuracy in Media. He is active on Facebook and Twitter. You can follow him @donirvine to read his latest thoughts.




3 Comments for LV Newspaper Cleans House Shortly After Reid Win

November 15th 2010 | Rebellion News

[...] LV Newspaper Cleans House Shortly After Reid Win [...]

NICK NEANDERTHAL

No free society can afford to have dissenting opinions. Especially in the press. This will please puppetmeister Soros. Welcome to CP-USA World!

The Major

In my opinion,,,a shake-up at a paper that backed Harry ‘I am not a liar’Reids OPPONENT,,only goes to prove that “No Good Deed Goes Unpunished”

Term Limits NOW,,if not term limits ,,then AGE limits. Cops,Firemen,GI’s,
Pilots & many many more have Age limits,,WHY NOT for POLITICIANS,such as Reid ,,Lautenberg,,that old clown from Michigan,,Dingle ??? and the list goes on & on. 12 years as a Congressman = 6 terms than OUT
12 years as a Senator = 2 terms than OUT
12 years as a Cm & Senator= 3 terms +1 term & OUT
If a pilot who has hundreds of lives in his hands MUST retire at 60,, a Politician,who passes bills that effect millions MUST retire at 65 ??
Wisdom does NOT come with age in D.C.,just oligarchical corruption & greed.






Wanna say something?





 

« Liberal Magazine Looking For a GOP Boost
Olbermann Hosts Debate on Journo’s Political Donations »



 
More in Blog - Don Irvine (713 of 3808 articles)