Sunday, Feburary 15, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

THOMAS MITCHELL: The bottom line is the bottom line

A fish rots from the head down. -- Greek proverb

The latest edition of The American Editor, the magazine of the American Society of Newspaper Editors, reports on a phenomenal waste of breath, time and money.

Stanford journalism professor William Woo relates his 16-month experiment in trying to instill ethical decision-making models in the newsroom of the Las Vegas Sun. Woo writes, "From what I knew of it, and what I was to observe, the Sun is a clean paper with high ethical standards."

It is understandable why professor Woo might reach such a conclusion if his observations were limited to the newsroom of the Sun. After all, except for a couple of reporters occasionally getting too cozy and cuddly with the folks they cover or applying for public relations jobs with those they cover, and that whole thing about having news reporters write opinion columns, the staff at the Sun is a relatively decent and ethical collection of characters from what I'm told by those who survived the experience and have gone on to legitimate publications.

The ethical problems at the Sun are not really in the newsroom, but at the helm.

For decades the Greenspun family has used the paper to slap down business and political competitors and to bolster its own financial interests to the detriment of its readers and the profession of journalism.

For example: Hell hath no fury like a family whose cable television monopoly is challenged. When a local taxi company owner launched a competing cable company, the Sun suddenly discovered that the taxi company maintained a large propane tank right here in desert city and went into full-throated oh-my-gawd mode in a shameless crusade.

On the other hand, friends of the family get stroked. On the eve of the hard-fought senatorial election between Harry Reid and John Ensign, Sun editor Brian Greenspun published a front-page, banner-headlined "news" story quoting former college classmate and President Bill Clinton as saying Nevada would surely get a nuclear waste dump shoved down Yucca Mountain if voters failed to re-elect fellow Democrat Reid.

And if a Sun reporter should write a story that a friend doesn't like -- no problem. A call to the editor can get it spiked.

When FBI agent Joe Yablonsky started indicting a passel of politicos on corruption charges, the Sun did not bemoan how cheaply their friends could be bribed. No, it fired a series of fulminating fusillades at the man enforcing the law.

To the Greenspuns, the bottom line is the bottom line. When the family invested in Nextlink phone service it was heralded in news stories and a Greenspun column. The opening of Green Valley Ranch, in which the family owns a share, warranted page after page of coverage. The opening of the family-owned housing development Aliante was front-page news. They used the newspaper to tout a proposed Formula 1 race track in which the family had an interest. The launch of family-run Las Vegas One on cable TV warranted six stories and a column in one edition.

And they never let journalistic judgment get in the way of a good rant on a favorite topic. In August 2000, the day after a truck caught fire on a local highway, the Sun front-page banner headline screamed: "What if this cargo had been nuke waste? 200 would die of cancer; 9,000 would require treatment." Save it for the editorial page.

Animal rights crusader Janie Greenspun Gale has the staff fetch for her causes and cohorts.

While sitting on a task force on taxes, the Sun editor kept up a drumbeat of editorials and columns advocating a gross receipts tax, seeing no conflict of interest whatsoever, nor revealing any shame when he pondered the taxes on home builders (his main source of income) and rounds of golf (his favorite pastime).

The $10,000 ASNE gave professor Woo to conduct the ethics seminars at the Sun was squandered. I want my dues back.

Thomas Mitchell, editor of the Review-Journal, writes a column on the newspaper's functions and role in the community. He may be reached at 383-0261 or via e-mail at tmitchell@reviewjournal.com.