The Media Issue

Our seventh-annual look at local media

BY CITYLIFE CONTRIBUTORS AND STAFF

Glossy and saucy

While most hotel-casino publications blow, the Hard Rock's mag actually has some substance

BY RYAN SLATTERY

It's not unusual these days to check into your hotel room and find a custom publication sitting on a coffee table or a dresser somewhere. You know the ones. Those in-house magazines telling you what the resort you're bedding down in has to offer.

Thumb through and you'll find the pages full of retail advertisements for shops on property, restaurant listings, upcoming events and articles suggesting how you should spend your night, whether it's at an elaborate production show or shooting tequila with friends in the newest, trendy nightspot. And for good measure, there is usually a feature or two on a performer or entertainer linked to the casino you're staying in.

For instance, the summer issue of M lifestyle, the magazine of the MGM Mirage family, had a Q&A cover story with Las Vegan Andre Agassi in which he admits his tennis playing days started when he was still "in diapers." (Now he's changing them.) There is also a quirky story in that issue titled "Dealers See the Darndest Things" - but being a family magazine, it was a toned down version.

The purpose of these mags is simply: to promote the property.

Terry Lanni, CEO and chairman of MGM Mirage, writes in his introduction: "There are many ways to immerse yourself into our resorts. ... M lifestyle is the perfect source for you to plan your adventures."

But now the Hard Rock has taken this marketing tool and upped the ante a bit. Sure, you'll still find advertisements for Von Dutch, Patron, Versace, the Olympic Garden and Sapphire's, but this glossy really is the "cutting-edge music and style magazine" its publishers promise.

The premiere issue of HRH Magazine was released as a summer-fall edition, and plans as of now are to publish the magazine twice a year. The first issue features a cover story on Metallica, which performed at the Joint on New Year's Eve, and includes an extensive Q&A with the band's new bassist Robert Trujillo, who played previously with Suicidal Tendencies and Ozzy Osbourne.

"There is a pretty cool culture and unique way of life here at the Hard Rock," Marketing Manager Dallas Orchard explains. "With the restaurants, the entertainment and the music, the concept of having our own magazine just made sense."

HRH differs from other hotel publications not only in its design (think Vegas Magazine), but in its content. While other pubs generally turn their attention to what's happening now, the Hard Rock looks back and, not surprisingly, plays up the celebrity angle, focusing on the rock groups that performed in their venues and the Hollywood A-listers who showed up to party.

There are several pages of celebrity photos, including a page dedicated to the Hard Rock's hosting of Maxim's "Hot 100" party. Pictured are Snoop Dog, Tommy Lee, Ozzy's offspring (Kelly and Jack), Nicole Richie, her overexposed sidekick Paris Hilton and dozens of other famous faces.

The magazine also contains a short on Beacher's Comedy Madhouse, an interview with talk show host Carson Daly (who set up shop at the Hard Rock for a week) and what amounts to an obit for Baby's, the subterranean nightclub that was closed New Year's Day, remodeled and reopened as swanky Body English.

And what's the Hard Rock without some barely dressed women, right? A photo feature for Love Jones, the hotel-casino's lingerie shop, can be found in the middle of the mag, as well.

Orchard says the Hard Rock has an advantage over other resorts when it comes to deciding what to include in its pages. "We are not as corporate," he explains. "We report to only one man, Peter Morton. It gives us some flexibility."

HRH Magazine is published by Miami-based Onboard Media. The company, founded in 1989, has developed a niche market, publishing cruise line shopping guides and custom publications exclusively for hotels and resorts.

Onboard also publishes all of Caesars Entertainment's in-house annuals and Venetian Style, which is distributed twice a year in that resort's 4,000 suites.

And while the Palms has yet to jump on the trend - and according to those in the marketing department, they have no plans of publishing their own magazine - a hunch tells me that will soon change.

Ryan Slattery is a local freelance journalist and a regular CityLife contributor.




Mister Rogers' neighborhood

A Q&A with Sunbelt Communications CEO and interim chancellor Jim Rogers

BY CATHY SCOTT

For 25 years, businessman Jim Rogers has been CEO and owner of Sunbelt Communications, the company that owns KVBC Channel 3, an NBC affiliate on Foremaster Lane downtown. He also owns 15 other stations in the Western United States.

For two decades KVBC has been able to hold onto its ranking as No. 1 in the growing Las Vegas market. In May, Rogers, 66, was appointed interim chancellor of Nevada's university and community college system.

CityLife sat down with Rogers to ask him questions about his Las Vegas station, the news it produces and how his chancellorship fits into the equation.

CityLife: Why did you want to become chancellor? It wasn't for the money, since you asked for only $1 a year in pay.

Jim Rogers: I've been involved half-time for years in 18 colleges and universities around the country, helping raise funds and donating time and money. I feel education is important. It was a pretty easy step for me. It wasn't like I wanted to go into neurosurgery. It was an uneasy time within the university system. A lot was going on. It calmed the waters [to bring in someone new].

CL: Of your 16 stations, which one is the best?

JR: KVBC does a great job. It's larger than the others combined. It's the monster. It's been No. 1 for 20 years, since 1984. I've had it since October '79. It's 51st in the nation in size and 30th in revenue.

CL: Is the competition in Las Vegas stiff?

JR: It's a competitive market. KLAS [Channel 8] does a good job and keeps us on our toes. They're a great competitor.

CL: A decade or more ago, Las Vegas appeared to be a TV market that cub reporters and relatively new anchors came to, cut their teeth and then moved on to bigger markets after a couple of years. Is that the same today or has it changed?

JR: What's occurred now is we're able to keep them longer because we're able to pay them more. Today, top anchors who have been here for a long time are paid in the six-figure range.

CL: You occasionally give your editorial opinion on the air. Is that a decision you make or does an editorial board decide?

JR: I decide. If there's a special issue, I'll jump in. For 10 years I used to do two [editorials] a week. I rarely do them anymore. If there's a big issue, like the marijuana issue on the ballot, I'll do one. I endorsed [Sen.] Harry Reid the last time he ran, but not in this last election. It depends. Most times I don't get involved.

CL: Do you make decisions when it comes to what stories your news staff covers?

JR: I would never go down to the news department and tell them to do anything. I think most stations are like that and don't get involved. I don't believe in it. It's not right.

CL: Are reporters and anchors hired for their appeal to the audience or for their qualifications and education?

JR: That's not a decision I would make. I leave that up to my employees who do the hiring. They're very capable of making those decisions.

CL: You don't have a say-so?

JR: I keep my hands out of the newsroom. That doesn't mean if it goes sour, I wouldn't go in there and say, "You need to fix it." If I had someone trying to run the show, I'd intervene. I don't have anyone with an ego. Everyone gets along.

CL: Your weather anchor and meteorologist John Fredericks brings his dog Jordan to work each day and puts him on the air. You're known as a dog lover and the only station with a dog run for employees' pets. How did that come about?

JR: It just seemed reasonable. We've had a run for five or six years. If some of the dogs don't get along, we have two runs in the back so they can be separated. Everyone here has nice dogs, and the dogs seem to enjoy it. We just ask the dog owners to clean up the mess.

CL: Where do you see the station in 10 years, with the Southern Nevada population growing at the rate it is today?

JR: It'll be one hell of a market. I hope we continue being No. 1. If I'm still around, I'll be running it. If not, my wife will run it. We don't intend to sell to anyone.

CL: Do you plan on taking any other posts, besides chancellor?

JR: I have no other aspirations. I'm working hard as chancellor and at KVBC. I come in here every day. I'll stay [as chancellor] until June 1. If the Board of Regents gets a superstar in, I'll walk away from it. Until then, I'm working hard.

Cathy Scott is a local author and freelance journalist. Her column Crime & Punishment appears weekly in CityLife.




The big question

Are women on equal ground with men in local newsrooms? It depends who you ask

BY EMMILY BRISTOL

I'll never forget the first time I watched His Girl Friday.

The quick-paced one-liners, the pin-striped suits, the excitement of being on the pants hem of news came alive for me with ace reporter Hildy Johnson (played by Rosalind Russell). In every frame I waited for Russell to come back onscreen, to deliver a verbal punch to Cary Grant, to grill a source while filing a breaking news story and planning a wedding elopement - which she almost has to cancel to cover a breaking news story.

It was a mixture of Russell and Katharine Hepburn's reporter role in 1942's Woman of the Year that initially seduced the younger me into the world of journalism.

Actors call it being bitten by the bug. Newsmen and women have a different word for it.

"It is not a job. It's a calling," said the Review-Journal's Erin Neff. "And for those of us who make it a calling, that's what it is. I don't think that the people that are interested in this who treat it as just a job, a 9-to-5 thing where they can go home [and] hit a movie at night really get it."

Calling or not, women haven't always been a welcome sight in the newsroom. Even America's first female reporter, Elizabeth Jane Cochrane (known to the world as Nellie Bly), had to famously crash into the New York newspaper market by going undercover to deliver stories that no man had brought home.

Certainly, a lot in our society has changed since Bly's 1880s - but have newswomen achieved equality in the newsroom? According to a bevy of studies, not yet; the glass ceiling is still with us and the gender gap isn't closing fast enough.

But numbers don't tell the whole story. And Las Vegas newswomen have their own views on the state of equality in town and elsewhere.

Look for a study on gender equality in the newsroom, and doom and gloom pops up on Google. Women are enrolling in journalism schools around the country at higher rates than men. According to an article this spring in Editor & Publisher, women represent 70 percent of students in J-school - but in the newsroom they represent only about 37 percent of the staff (using 2003 numbers).

Those numbers hold true locally. At UNLV, journalism instructor Mary Hausch said her classes are female dominated, 3-1.

"I think they're going into entry-level jobs [but not staying]," Hausch, a former Review-Journal editor, said.

In Women in Newsrooms 2003: Challenging the Status Quo, Mary Arnold and Marlene Lozada Hendrickson found that women make up 43 percent of the newspaper workforce but only 21 percent of corporate executives at assistant vice president level or higher.

"In editorial, 40 percent of the managing editors are women, but only 22 percent of those at the top of the news department are," Arnold and Hendrickson wrote in the study.

Indeed, more women work as reporters than any other role at a newspaper, according to an American Society of Newspaper Editors 2003 census. But of reporters, men still hold the majority with just under 40 percent of reporters being women.

In Las Vegas, the numbers are mixed.

The Sun leads in gender parity between the two dailies. Judging by newsroom staff listings posted on each paper's Website, almost 39 percent of the Sun's newsroom are women while the R-J is at 21 percent. When it comes to female reporter numbers, the Sun is at about 39 percent and the R-J about 26 percent.

At the alternative weeklies, CityLife has the most full-time staff women (2 of 7) while the Weekly has dropped to one (now that Kate Silver left to join Las Vegas Life). The smaller Mercury has none.

The View Neighborhood News has impressive numbers, with 57 percent of the staff being female (including the managing editor).

The question is: Do all of these numbers have an impact on the news?

A Michigan State University study seems to suggest they do. The study examined news stories published in capital dailies covering governor races between Labor Day and Election Day 2002. While subject papers ran the gamut from the 6,748-circ Juneau Empire to the 194,870-circ St. Paul Pioneer Press, one thing stayed the same. In analysis of the gender of the reporter and the gender of sources cited, men quoted more male experts while women more often quoted sources from both sexes.

"I've been an editor for quite a number of years. I can honestly tell you that it's more a matter of the individual's personality," said R-J Managing Editor and acting local Society of Professional Journalists President Charles Zobell. "If a study has been done that shows a difference, I don't discount the study. I just know in my own experience there are sensitive men and there are sensitive women - people are going to seek out a certain kind of source, regardless of whether they are a male or female reporter. So I hate to make those kinds of generalizations about people."

Other findings of the MSU study were that male experts were cited nearly five times more often than female experts, and no female expert appeared in more than one story - even though male experts appeared repeatedly. It could be gender bias in the newsroom or it could be a lack of women in high-profile positions in our society.

"I think that study's on target because the world of politics is still dominated by white men," said Neff, the R-J's political reporter. "You look at the U.S. Senate. You look at the races around the country for Congress, and the majority are men. The majority of the consultants are men. Here in Nevada, the big power brokers are all men. You take out Pat Mulroy [of the Southern Nevada Water Authority] and who else do you have?"

Jane Ann Morrison, an R-J general interest columnist, said that women do tend to look at source selection in a different way than men.

"I think we don't just go to the top men. We look for diversity," she said.

So perhaps the problem of the gender gap in the newsroom is a representation of the gender gap in life. But this still doesn't answer the question as to whether this affects how news is reported.

Neff offered an anecdote to highlight how it might. In the R-J newsroom, all of the crime reporters are men. When one of them came back from a recent crime scene that left a 12-year-old boy in critical condition, the talk was of only writing a brief, since the boy - who was carried away by paramedics with a knife in his body - didn't die. It's not that the crime reporters are insensitive, but they didn't see it from another point of view: the mother's.

"The reality is that any mother who has a child is horrified by that story," said Neff, herself a wife and mother.

And it's not just about how many women are in the newsroom in general, but where they are as well. Most women are absent from beats in sports all together. Former Henderson Home News general assignment and sports reporter Kris Hill, who now writes sports stories for a weekly paper in Kent, Wash., said she never felt welcome as a sportswriter at the HHN.

"In sports, there's a token female," Hill said.

And when it comes to management rolls or having positions of power in the newsroom, women lag behind nationally and locally. Out of 10 executive positions at the R-J, there are only two women and at the Sun there is just one.

"I think there is a glass ceiling in newsrooms, but I don't think it's been quantified," said Kelly McBride, a group leader in the Poynter ethics department.

Here, local women are split. Some say there is a glass ceiling and some say there might be, but it's not imposed. (Reporters contacted at the Sun declined to be interviewed.)

Hausch sued the R-J for gender discrimination. She said she was groomed for an executive position that never materialized.

"There are less women in power [now] at the R-J and Sun than 15 years ago," Hausch said. "It's a self-perpetuating cycle. You would hope that women wouldn't have to resort to legal means."

Many would argue that despite a lack of women on the executive rolls, there are plenty in lead editor positions in the newsroom. For instance, Zobell offered City Editor Mary Hynes and News Editor Mary Greeley as examples in the R-J newsroom.

In response, Hausch said: "When you're at that level, you don't even see the glass."

Neff offered a different angle.

"Women who are good can excel in this town, certainly," she said. "I think any woman could eventually become the publisher of the Review-Journal - but when I look at myself, I don't strive for that. I don't know of any women I work with in the newsroom who do. And I almost suspect that because there aren't women in upper management, it's not a goal anybody has. It's not something they want to achieve. They're happy doing what they're doing. I think most people hit a certain level and decide, 'That's what I want to do.'

"I think there is a glass ceiling, but I don't think it's imposed by men. I think it's just a lack of women getting there."

Morrison added that sometimes female reporters get offered chances to move up, but don't take them.

"When I came here [in 1976] I never felt like I was being held back," Morrison, who covered politics in various capacities for decades, said. "I had been offered management positions, but I didn't want them. I like being a reporter too much."

Morrison and Neff said that women's unique roll in parenting can have an effect on upward mobility in the newsroom.

"Women have more challenges, with having families," Morrison said.

Neff said that becoming a mother has forced her to focus more on her work because she has less time to spare. But she has seen a number of female colleagues decide to leave the industry after having children.

In the end, most newswomen said the Las Vegas newsroom culture can be a place of opportunity. Morrison said it's a matter of respect, which women have to earn just like men. Neff agreed:

"To a large degree, those that are going to excel, those that are going to get the best stories, the best beats, the ones that are going to do investigative journalism or win awards are the ones who are out there working their butts off."

Emmily Bristol is the only full-time female staff writer at an alt-weekly in Las Vegas. She can be reached at 702-871-6780 ext. 344 or bristol@lvpress.com.




Ink-stained heroes

Forget the Nevada Press Association awards. These are the best print journalists in the valley

BY MATT O'BRIEN

Jim Day

Las Vegans are blessed with two fine editorial cartoonists. Mike Smith, who toils at the Sun, is witty and partisan (though slightly left-leaning) - a true equal-opportunity offender. And the Review-Journal's Jim Day, whose cartoons are a bit more serious than Smith's, possesses these same qualities. We dig both men's work, but generally prefer Day. His cartoons are local, complicated and cerebral, challenging readers. And whether humorous or serious - he can pull off both - they pack a hell of a wallop.

J.M. Kalil

We are often stunned by the results of the Nevada Press Association's Better Newspaper Contest, announced each fall. In fact, we are regularly shocked by awards CityLife wins. But we can't debate this year's choice for outstanding journalist in daily newspapering: the Review-Journal's J.M. Kalil. As an enterprise reporter, Kalil produced a stunning portfolio of human-interest features, news features and investigative stories. In early October, he took over the city government beat. We'll miss his long-form work - but we expect great stuff from him while covering Mayor Oscar Goodman and the City Council circus.

Steve Kanigher

With J.M. Kalil now working the city gov beat, daily paper readers will rely mainly on the Sun's Steve Kanigher for long-form pieces. No problem. Kanigher has been pumping out well-reported, 2,000-word-plus stories for years. The guy seems to get off on it. Indeed, without Kanigher and Timothy Pratt, there would be little reason to crack open the afternoon paper.

Erin Neff

The Review-Journal has hired several capable staffers away from the Sun - but the most important recent thievery was reporter Erin Neff. Since joining the R-J in October 2003, Neff has carried the morning paper's political news coverage. This, of course, was crucial in 2004. Leading up to the election, Neff filed tons of varied and balanced copy (yes, R-J editors, liberal politicians do exist). Obviously, she has a remarkable work ethic. But her most admirable trait, in our opinion, is that she doesn't take any shit - from pols, from flacks, from anyone.

Timothy Pratt

Roughly 25 percent of the Clark County population is Hispanic. Yet very few local reporters speak Spanish. The Sun's Timothy Pratt does - and he takes full advantage of it. Pratt regularly mines human-interest and social-service stories, characterized by moving quotes, in the Hispanic community. His leads are strong and his reporting solid. And he has a really nice touch, showing sympathy for his subjects but never totally losing balance.

Jon Ralston

He's smart. He's informed. And he's really pissed off - seemingly about everything. God, we love Jon Ralston. A former Review-Journal columnist, Ralston now writes weekly columns for the Sun and In Business Las Vegas. He also cobbles together a couple of e-mail newsletters (the Flash and the Ralston Report) and hosts a television program ("Face to Face with Jon Ralston"). Simply put: No journalist in Nevada knows as much about state politics as our "Favorite Flasher."

John L. Smith

A few things are guaranteed in Las Vegas: Gamblers will lose money, the temperature will hit triple figures in the summer, and Review-Journal columnist John L. Smith will make our best print journalists list. And why not? Since joining the R-J in the late '80s, Smith has never dogged it. He can report. He can write. And, a native Southern Nevadan, he knows the area extremely well. His recent columns on his daughter Amelia, who had a brain tumor removed, were poetic and moving.

Honorable mention

Doug Elfman (Review-Journal), Chris Jones (Review-Journal), Ed Koch (Sun), Ethan Miller (Sun), Spencer Patterson (Sun), Kirsten Searer (Sun), Kate Silver (Greenspun Media Group), Mike Smith (Sun).

Matt O'Brien is CityLife's managing editor. He can be reached at 702-871-6780 ext. 350 or obrien@lvpress.com.




NEWSPAPERS

Boulder City News

508 Nevada Highway

P.O. Box 60065

Boulder City, NV 89006

702-293-2302

www.bouldercitynews.com

Gaming Today

4577 S. Industrial Road

Las Vegas, NV 89103

702-798-1151

www.gamingtoday.com

Henderson Home News

2300 Corporate Circle Drive, Suite 150

Henderson, NV 89074

702-435-7700

www.hendersononline.com

In Business Las Vegas

2290 Corporate Circle Drive, Suite 250

Henderson, NV 89074

702-990-2529

www.vegas.com

Las Vegas Business Press

1385 Pama Lane, Suite 111

Las Vegas, NV 89119

702-871-6780

www.lvbusinesspress.com

Las Vegas CityLife

1385 Pama Lane, Suite 111

Las Vegas, NV 89119

702-871-6780

www.lasvegascitylife.com

Las Vegas Mercury

P.O. Box 70

Las Vegas, NV 89125

702-387-2993

www.lasvegasmercury.com

Las Vegas Review-Journal

1111 W. Bonanza Road

P.O. Box 70

Las Vegas, NV 89125

702-383-0194

www.reviewjournal.com

Las Vegas Sentinel-Voice

900 E. Charleston Blvd.

Las Vegas, NV 89104

702-380-1800

Las Vegas Sun

2275 Corporate Circle Drive, Suite 300

Henderson, NV 89074

702-385-3111

www.lasvegassun.com

Las Vegas Weekly

P.O. Box 230040

Las Vegas, NV 89123

702-990-2400

www.lasvegasweekly.com

UNLV Rebel Yell

4505 S. Maryland Parkway, #452011

Las Vegas, NV 89154-2011

702-895-3479

www.ryunlv.com

NEWS RADIO STATIONS

KBAD 920-AM (sports)

8755 W. Flamingo Road

Las Vegas, NV 89147

702-876-1460

www.espn920.com

KDWN 720-AM (talk, news and sports)

1 Main St.

P.O. Box 760

Las Vegas, NV 89125

702-385-7212

www.kdwn.com

KENO 1460-AM (sports)

8755 W. Flamingo Road

Las Vegas, NV 89147-8667

702-461-8225

KLAV 1230-AM (talk)

1810 Weldon Place

Las Vegas, NV 89104

702-796-1230

www.klav1230am.com

KNUU 970-AM (talk, news)

1455 E. Tropicana Ave., Suite 550

Las Vegas, NV 89119

702-735-8644

KSFN 1140-AM (talk, news)

6655 W. Sahara Ave., Suite 208

Las Vegas, NV 89145

702-821-1140

KSHP 1400-AM (news, talk)

2400 S. Jones Blvd., Suite 3

Las Vegas, NV 89148

702-221-1200

www.kshp.com

KXNT 840-AM (news, talk)

6655 W. Sahara Ave., Suite D-208

Las Vegas, NV 89146

702-889-7300

www.kxnt.com

TV STATIONS

KLAS Channel 8

3228 Channel 8 Drive

Box 15047

Las Vegas, NV 89114

702-792-8888

www.klastv.com

KLVX Channel 10 (public TV)

4210 Channel 10 Drive

Las Vegas, NV 89119

702-799-1010

www.klvx.org

KTNV Channel 13

3355 S. Valley View Blvd.

Las Vegas, NV 89102

702-876-1313

www.ktnv.com

KTUD Channel 25

3790 S. Paradise Road, Suite 100

Las Vegas, NV 89109

702-697-0275

www.ktudtv.com

KVBC Channel 3

1500 Foremaster Lane

P.O. Box 44169

Las Vegas, NV 89116

702-642-3333

www.kvbc.com

KVVU Channel 5

25 TV 5 Drive

Henderson, NV 89014

702-435-5555

www.kvvu.com

Las Vegas ONE

3228 Channel 8 Drive

Las Vegas, NV 89109

702-650-1111