Journal Editor Steps Down in Wake of Adelson Family Purchase

David wrote on Twitter that while Hengel said the new management is entitled to hire an editor of its choosing, it is “hard not to conclude [Hengel is] gone for fulfilling paper’s fundamental charge: keeping the community informed no matter how fraught”.

According to one of the paper’s reporters, Hengel told his staff, “I think my resignation probably comes a relief to the new owners, and it is in my best interest and those of my family”.

Adelson’s family confirmed their purchase of the newspaper Thursday in an editorial alongside an investigative piece from the paper outing the casino titan as the owner – a claim he’d previously skirted.

The new owners also said that Mr. Hengel as well as several other “qualified employees” have accepted a buyout offer from the newspaper’s former owners.

Earlier this year, Gonzalez admonished Adelson in court for not answering a routine question about work emails, telling him he could not argue with her.

The secret identity of the Review-Journal’s new owners became a national story after its reporters, investigating their new owners, discovered that they had been secretly purchased by local billionaire and G.O.P. mega-donor Adelson. She posted a message saying Hengel “leaves the RJ with his integrity intact”.

“We pledge to publish a newspaper that is fair, unbiased and accurate”, the statement says. Adelson himself has said nothing beyond issuing a family statement vowing to invest in the newspaper to make it top notch.

Seaman said Review-Journal reporters have earned respect for their dogged reporting about their own sale.

Schroeder did not return phone calls and emails from the AP. The Las Vegas Review-Journal’s editor did not immediately comment on his decision.

Adelson’s spokesman for the Las Vegas Sands, Ron Reese, declined comment. However, it could be said that Mr. Adelson has been in the middle of numerous controversies related to the potential legalization of Internet gambling in the United States and other related matters, which had a negative effect on his media profile.

Adelson paid around $140 million for the newspaper in a transaction arranged by his son-in-law, Patrick Dumont, but tried to remain anonymous at first, raising red flags in the newsroom.

The Adelsons said they held back revealing themselves as owner because they didn’t want an announcement to distract from last week’s Republican presidential debate held at The Venetian, the casino-hotel on the Las Vegas Strip that is part of Adelson’s empire. Jennifer Robison, a reporter who has been writing about the sale, said that the year over all had been one of transition, and the ownership change was just the latest test. But without Mr. Hengel guiding the way, she said, there was more uncertainty than ever.