No one knows who just bought the Las Vegas Review-Journal, but plenty are speculating, with the conversation inevitably turning to billionaire Sheldon Adelson because he runs Nevada’s largest casino corporation and because $140 million is an enormous amount for a city newspaper (remember, the new paper of record, The Washington Post, sold to Jeff Bezos for just $250 million). Even Jeb!, who’s on the board, doesn’t know the identity of the new owner:
Just finished hour+ @reviewjournal ed board. Only q left unanswered - who owns the newspaper?
— Jeb Bush (@JebBush) December 14, 2015
On Monday afternoon, a number of the paper’s employees tweeted out pictures and links to the paper’s code of ethics, which demands reporters “be accountable and transparent,” demanding to know the identity of the paper’s new owner.
.@reviewjournal staffers are tweeting en masse about/linking to SPJ Code of #Ethics in response to mystery buyer. pic.twitter.com/krFTPymod7
— Staci D Kramer (@sdkstl) December 14, 2015
It’s about ethics in journalism.