Review-Journal columnist John L Smith has resigned from the Las Vegas newspaper in protest at a ban on writing about its new owner, Sheldon Adelson. Until this week, Smith, who Adelson once attempted to sue for defamation, wrote a popular column in the paper on issues facing Las Vegas, from human interest stories to politics. Adelson sued Smith in 2005 over his book Sharks in the Desert. The lawsuit stated that “Smith deceptively manipulates language, quotations, and sources in order to concoct the smear that Adelson had dealings with the Boston Mob when Adelson was in the vending machine business.” The…

The mystery surrounding ownership of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Nevada’s largest news outlet, finally reached a conclusion. Casino magnate and Republican mega-donor Sheldon Adelson, the Chairman and CEO of Las Vegas Sands Corp., officially confirmed that his family was the force behind the $140 million purchase. The announcement ended a period of intense scrutiny and unease within the journalism community. The secrecy triggered an “avalanche of criticism” from media ethicists and the paper’s own reporters, who spent days investigating their anonymous employer. Many voiced concerns that a clandestine owner—especially one with significant political and business interests in the region—could compromise…