Legum writes: "A week ago, no one had ever heard of Edward Clarkin. Today he
has inspired multiple parody Twitter accounts, prompted one journalist to
quit his job after 22 years and has been the subject of intense speculation
in elite media circles."
Who is Edward Clarkin? (photo: shutterstock)
Edward Clarkin Is the Most Important Man in Journalism Today - And He's
Probably Not a Real Person
By Judd Legum, ThinkProgress
27 December 15
A week ago, no one had ever heard of Edward Clarkin. Today he has inspired
multiple parody Twitter accounts, prompted one journalist to quit his job
after 22 years and has been the subject of intense speculation in elite
media circles.
This is how Edward Clarkin went from an unknown to the center of the world
of journalism.
Who Is Edward Clarkin?
Edward Clarkin holds himself out to be a reporter for the New Britain
Herald, a small paper in Connecticut with a circulation of about 7500. Prior
to this month, Clarkin's only articles for the New Britain Herald were four
effusive restaurant reviews published in 2011. "If A Taste of Poland is
anything like Warsaw or Krakow, I'm buying an airplane ticket tomorrow,"
Clarkin wrote.
Then, on December 1, Clarkin published a nearly 2,000 word article on the
performance of business courts, which specialize in corporate issues. Oddly,
the article not only covered Connecticut business courts but included ten
paragraphs criticizing Elizabeth Gonzalez, a state judge in Nevada. Clarkin
wrote that Gonzalez's rulings "appear inconsistent and even contradictory"
and her conduct "undermines the rationale for the creation of such courts in
the first place."
Is Edward Clarkin A Good Reporter?
It does not appear so.
Several of the sources quoted in his business courts article say they were
never contacted by Clarkin or anyone from the New Britain Herald, according
to the Hartford Courant.
The Courant also revealed that other passages in the piece were blatantly
plagarized from other sources.
Is Edward Clarkin A Real Person?
All signs point to no.
"There is no record of an Edward Clarkin in Connecticut on state voting
rolls, property records, lawyer registries or various social-media sites,
and several current and former newspaper employees said they never met
anyone by that name," the Hartford Currant reported.
The New Britain Herald staff numbers in the single digits - but no one can
recall ever meeting or talking to Clarkin.
Michael Schroeder, the publisher of the New Britain Herald, said that he has
"no comment on our newsgathering, story selection or writers" and "declined
to provide information about Clarkin."
Schroeder told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that he had "no idea" how to
reach Clarkin.
Schroeder does have an unusual connection to Clarkin, however. Schroeder's
middle name is Edward and his mother's maiden name is Clarkin.
What else should I know about Michael Schroder?
Michael Schroder is the manager for News + Media Capital Group LLC, a
company created by conservative billionaire Sheldon Adelson to purchase the
Las Vegas Review-Journal earlier this month.
In other words, he is now the boss of the Las Vegas Review-Journal,
answering to Adelson.
Initially, Schroder declined to identify the investors who purchased the Las
Vegas Review-Journal. Reporters from the Review-Journal independently
established that Adelson had purchased their paper.
What's the connection between Edward Clarkin and the Las Vegas
Review-Journal?
While Adelson was pursuing the purchase of the Review-Journal, three
Review-Journal reporters were abruptly told to "[d]rop everything and spend
two weeks monitoring all activity of three Clark County judges." The
assignment came directly from GateHouse Media, the former owner of the
Review-Journal. (GateHouse continues to manage day-to-day operations at the
Review-Journal under an agreement with Adelson.)
One of the judges under scrutiny: Elizabeth Gonzalez, the target of Edward
Clarkin's article in the New Britain Herald.
Review-Journal reporters wrote 15,000 words about the judges assigned to
them by GateHouse, including Gonzalez, but none of their work ever appeared
in the paper.
Information about Elizabeth Gonzalez did subsequently appear under Edward
Clarkin's name in the New Britain Herald.
After publishing the story about the Review-Journal's unusual assignment
about Judge Gonzalez, the editor of the paper, Mike Hengel, was replaced.
Does Sheldon Adelson have a special interest in Judge Elizabeth Gonzalez?
Yes.
Judge Gonzalez is overseeing a case against Adelson and his gambling company
by a former attorney who alleges "he was fired for trying to break the
company's links to Chinese organized crime triads." The employee also claims
"Adelson turned a blind eye to prostitution and other illegal activities in
his resorts there."
Adelson has clashed with Gonzalez as the case has progressed. At one point,
Adelson refused to answer a routine question and Gonzales told him, "Sir,
you don't get to argue with me. You understand that?"
Gonzalez has fined Adelson's companies hundreds of thousands of dollars for
withholding documents. Adelson offered financial support to candidates
willing to run against Gonzalez and unseat her, according to the Review
Journal.
Are people upset about Edward Clarkin?
Yes. And Michael Schroeder.
Steve Majerus-Collins, who worked at the New Britain Herald for 22 years,
quit his job on Christmas Eve. Majerus-Collins explained why in a Facebook
post:
I have watched in recent days as Mr. Schroeder has emerged as a spokesman
for a billionaire with a penchant for politics who secretly purchased a Las
Vegas newspaper and is already moving to gut it. I have learned with horror
that my boss shoveled a story into my newspaper - a terrible, plagiarized
piece of garbage about the court system - and then stuck his own fake byline
on it. I admit I never saw the piece until recently, but when I did, I knew
it had Mr. Schroeder's fingerprints all over it. Yet when enterprising
reporters asked my boss about it, he claimed to know nothing or told them he
had no comment. Yesterday, they blew the lid off this idiocy completely,
proving that Mr. Schroeder lied, that he submitted a plagiarized story,
bypassed what editing exists and basically used the pages of my newspaper,
secretly, to further the political agenda of his master out in Las Vegas. In
sum, the owner of my paper is guilty of journalistic misconduct of epic
proportions.
There is no excusing this behavior. A newspaper editor cannot be allowed to
stamp on the most basic rules of journalism and pay no price. He should be
shunned by my colleagues, cut off by professional organizations and told to
pound sand by anyone working for him who has integrity.
So I quit.
Majerus-Collins quit even though he has two kids in college and no idea how
to support himself. "I have to stand up for what is right even if the cost
is so daunting that at this moment it scares the hell out of me," he wrote.
Why is Edward Clarkin so important?
If Edward Clarkin is really Michael Schroder, he is symbolic of an effort of
a billionaire, Sheldon Adelson, to seize control of the largest paper in a
major state and use it as a vehicle to advance his political agenda by any
means necessary.
Nevada is a swing-state and Adelson is among the very largest donors to the
Republican Party.
He is the chairman of a multi-billion dollar casino company, Las Vegas Sands
Corp. In addition to supporting Republican candidates he also opposes online
gambling and drug legalization. He is also a strident supporter of Benjamin
Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel and operates an paper in Israel,
Israel Today, that is largely viewed as a propaganda outlet for Netanyahu's
government.
Adelson has spent hundreds of millions on candidates and causes he supports.
But Edward Clarkin might be his most brazen move yet.
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Who is Edward Clarkin? (photo: shutterstock)
http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2015/12/25/3735036/edward-clarkin/http://t
hinkprogress.org/politics/2015/12/25/3735036/edward-clarkin/
Edward Clarkin Is the Most Important Man in Journalism Today - And He's
Probably Not a Real Person
By Judd Legum, ThinkProgress
27 December 15
week ago, no one had ever heard of Edward Clarkin. Today he has inspired
multiple parody Twitter accounts, prompted one journalist to quit his job
after 22 years and has been the subject of intense speculation in elite
media circles.
This is how Edward Clarkin went from an unknown to the center of the world
of journalism.
Who Is Edward Clarkin?
Edward Clarkin holds himself out to be a reporter for the New Britain
Herald, a small paper in Connecticut with a circulation of about 7500. Prior
to this month, Clarkin's only articles for the New Britain Herald were four
effusive restaurant reviews published in 2011. "If A Taste of Poland is
anything like Warsaw or Krakow, I'm buying an airplane ticket tomorrow,"
Clarkin wrote.
Then, on December 1, Clarkin published a nearly 2,000 word article on the
performance of business courts, which specialize in corporate issues. Oddly,
the article not only covered Connecticut business courts but included ten
paragraphs criticizing Elizabeth Gonzalez, a state judge in Nevada. Clarkin
wrote that Gonzalez's rulings "appear inconsistent and even contradictory"
and her conduct "undermines the rationale for the creation of such courts in
the first place."
Is Edward Clarkin A Good Reporter?
It does not appear so.
Several of the sources quoted in his business courts article say they were
never contacted by Clarkin or anyone from the New Britain Herald, according
to the Hartford Courant.
The Courant also revealed that other passages in the piece were blatantly
plagarized from other sources.
Is Edward Clarkin A Real Person?
All signs point to no.
"There is no record of an Edward Clarkin in Connecticut on state voting
rolls, property records, lawyer registries or various social-media sites,
and several current and former newspaper employees said they never met
anyone by that name," the Hartford Currant reported.
The New Britain Herald staff numbers in the single digits - but no one can
recall ever meeting or talking to Clarkin.
Michael Schroeder, the publisher of the New Britain Herald, said that he has
"no comment on our newsgathering, story selection or writers" and "declined
to provide information about Clarkin."
Schroeder told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that he had "no idea" how to
reach Clarkin.
Schroeder does have an unusual connection to Clarkin, however. Schroeder's
middle name is Edward and his mother's maiden name is Clarkin.
What else should I know about Michael Schroder?
Michael Schroder is the manager for News + Media Capital Group LLC, a
company created by conservative billionaire Sheldon Adelson to purchase the
Las Vegas Review-Journal earlier this month.
In other words, he is now the boss of the Las Vegas Review-Journal,
answering to Adelson.
Initially, Schroder declined to identify the investors who purchased the Las
Vegas Review-Journal. Reporters from the Review-Journal independently
established that Adelson had purchased their paper.
What's the connection between Edward Clarkin and the Las Vegas
Review-Journal?
While Adelson was pursuing the purchase of the Review-Journal, three
Review-Journal reporters were abruptly told to "[d]rop everything and spend
two weeks monitoring all activity of three Clark County judges." The
assignment came directly from GateHouse Media, the former owner of the
Review-Journal. (GateHouse continues to manage day-to-day operations at the
Review-Journal under an agreement with Adelson.)
One of the judges under scrutiny: Elizabeth Gonzalez, the target of Edward
Clarkin's article in the New Britain Herald.
Review-Journal reporters wrote 15,000 words about the judges assigned to
them by GateHouse, including Gonzalez, but none of their work ever appeared
in the paper.
Information about Elizabeth Gonzalez did subsequently appear under Edward
Clarkin's name in the New Britain Herald.
After publishing the story about the Review-Journal's unusual assignment
about Judge Gonzalez, the editor of the paper, Mike Hengel, was replaced.
Does Sheldon Adelson have a special interest in Judge Elizabeth Gonzalez?
Yes.
Judge Gonzalez is overseeing a case against Adelson and his gambling company
by a former attorney who alleges "he was fired for trying to break the
company's links to Chinese organized crime triads." The employee also claims
"Adelson turned a blind eye to prostitution and other illegal activities in
his resorts there."
Adelson has clashed with Gonzalez as the case has progressed. At one point,
Adelson refused to answer a routine question and Gonzales told him, "Sir,
you don't get to argue with me. You understand that?"
Gonzalez has fined Adelson's companies hundreds of thousands of dollars for
withholding documents. Adelson offered financial support to candidates
willing to run against Gonzalez and unseat her, according to the Review
Journal.
Are people upset about Edward Clarkin?
Yes. And Michael Schroeder.
Steve Majerus-Collins, who worked at the New Britain Herald for 22 years,
quit his job on Christmas Eve. Majerus-Collins explained why in a Facebook
post:
I have watched in recent days as Mr. Schroeder has emerged as a spokesman
for a billionaire with a penchant for politics who secretly purchased a Las
Vegas newspaper and is already moving to gut it. I have learned with horror
that my boss shoveled a story into my newspaper - a terrible, plagiarized
piece of garbage about the court system - and then stuck his own fake byline
on it. I admit I never saw the piece until recently, but when I did, I knew
it had Mr. Schroeder's fingerprints all over it. Yet when enterprising
reporters asked my boss about it, he claimed to know nothing or told them he
had no comment. Yesterday, they blew the lid off this idiocy completely,
proving that Mr. Schroeder lied, that he submitted a plagiarized story,
bypassed what editing exists and basically used the pages of my newspaper,
secretly, to further the political agenda of his master out in Las Vegas. In
sum, the owner of my paper is guilty of journalistic misconduct of epic
proportions.
There is no excusing this behavior. A newspaper editor cannot be allowed to
stamp on the most basic rules of journalism and pay no price. He should be
shunned by my colleagues, cut off by professional organizations and told to
pound sand by anyone working for him who has integrity.
So I quit.
Majerus-Collins quit even though he has two kids in college and no idea how
to support himself. "I have to stand up for what is right even if the cost
is so daunting that at this moment it scares the hell out of me," he wrote.
Why is Edward Clarkin so important?
If Edward Clarkin is really Michael Schroder, he is symbolic of an effort of
a billionaire, Sheldon Adelson, to seize control of the largest paper in a
major state and use it as a vehicle to advance his political agenda by any
means necessary.
Nevada is a swing-state and Adelson is among the very largest donors to the
Republican Party.
He is the chairman of a multi-billion dollar casino company, Las Vegas Sands
Corp. In addition to supporting Republican candidates he also opposes online
gambling and drug legalization. He is also a strident supporter of Benjamin
Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel and operates an paper in Israel,
Israel Today, that is largely viewed as a propaganda outlet for Netanyahu's
government.
Adelson has spent hundreds of millions on candidates and causes he supports.
But Edward Clarkin might be his most brazen move yet.
http://e-max.it/posizionamento-siti-web/socialize
http://e-max.it/posizionamento-siti-web/socialize
