Editor who oversaw Adelson coverage in Vegas hired by Louisville

The editor who oversaw the Las Vegas Review-Journal’s coverage of its purchase by casino magnate Sheldon Adelson has been hired to be the investigations editor of the Louisville Courier-Journal in Kentucky.

Jim Wright will begin in late May. At the Review-Journal, he had been deputy editor for local and business news and business editor. He was let go last June.

Deborah Yetter of the Courier-Journal writes, “Wright, 59, currently is completing a one-year Knight-Wallace journalism fellowship at the University of Michigan where he is studying how mega-donors in U.S. politics influence  American foreign policy.

“‘I’m happy to join the Courier-Journal family,’ Wright said. ‘I think there are a lot of important stories to be told in Kentucky and beyond.’

“Despite the many changes to journalism in recent years, Wright said be believes its key mission is unchanged.

“‘I think it’s important than ever that we have an independent and active watchdog press with the notion of righting wrongs and exposing problems in ways that make things better,’ he said.

“Prior to accepting the Knight-Wallace fellowship, Wright worked as an editor at the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

“Among reporting projects he supervised at the Las Vegas newspaper was one that uncovered the purchase of the Review-Journal by casino magnate and influential political donor Sheldon Adelson. Adelson’s $140 million purchase of Nevada’s largest newspaper initially was shielded through a Delaware-based limited liability company in a deal that was exposed by the newspaper’s staff.”

Read more here.