Michael Schroeder — the owner of some small papers in New England who was involved in the controversial purchase of the Las Vegas Review-Journal by the Adelson family — printed an apology to the readers of The Bristol Press amid accusations that a story printed in his papers last month was plagiarized under a pseudonym. The apology appeared in Tuesday’s print addition of the Bristol Press and later was posted to New York University Journalism Professor Jay Rosen’s blog.
In it, Schroeder said that the “level of reporting in this story did not meet our standards” and that the story should have clarified his relationship to the “buyer of the Las Vegas Review Journal,” who had connections to the story.
“As an editor and publisher, I take full responsibility of the assignment, publication and editing of the story and for these failures,” Schroeder wrote. “It was a combination of writing and reporting from multiple sources, with anonymity promised, in this case, inappropriately. That is why a pseudonym — ‘Edward Clarkin,’ which had been used before — was used in this instance. We have eliminated this practice.”
Better photo of the apology to readers from mystery man and Adelson cutout figure Michael Schroeder of Connecticut. pic.twitter.com/VscrEFjUe2
— Jay Rosen (@jayrosen_nyu) January 5, 2016
The story in question was critical of a Nevada judge who has been presiding over court case involving Adelson. Scrutiny of the Dec. 2 story grew when Schroeder was tied to the purchase of the Las Vegas Review-Journal — which was later revealed to have been bought by the Adelsons through Schroeder’s shell company in secret. Schroeder was believed to be behind the story as the pseudonym looked like a combination of his middle name and a name associated with his mother. Furthermore, prior to the announcement of the purchase of the paper, reporters of the Las Vegas Review-Journal were told to monitor three judges, including the subject of the story, and it was speculated their reporting was used in the Connecticut story.
Schroeder did not address those claims directly, but rather said the pieces of the story were pulled from “related Internet sites” without credit.
Since the controversy — over which a reporter at one of Schroeder’s Connecticut papers resigned — he has also been released from his involvement with the Las Vegas Review-Journal, a spokesman for the paper confirmed this week.
