WSJ settles libel lawsuit with casino billionaire Adelson

Sheldon Adelson

The Wall Street Journal said Thursday a libel lawsuit brought by billionaire casino magnate Sheldon Adelson against one of its reporters has been settled.

Lukas Alpert of The Journal writes, “Both sides agreed that the suit would be dismissed and that each side would bear its own legal costs, a Journal spokeswoman said. No money is being paid to settle the suit, she said. The article at the heart of the suit will remain online unchanged.

“A spokesman for Mr. Adelson’s Las Vegas Sands Corp. had no immediate comment.

“The suit, filed in 2013, accused the Journal’s then-Hong-Kong-based Asia gambling-industry reporter, Kate O’Keeffe, of libel, for a passage in which Mr. Adelson was described as ‘a scrappy, foul-mouthed billionaire from working-class Dorchester, Mass.’

“Mr. Adelson has said he isn’t foul-mouthed.

“A Journal spokeswoman said: ‘We are pleased that the parties have agreed that the suit will be dismissed. The Journal and Ms. O’Keeffe remain fully committed to continuing to provide fair and accurate reporting in all matters, including in our coverage of Mr. Adelson and his businesses.'”

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Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.