Shortly after 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Michael Hengel, the editor of The Las Vegas Review-Journal, instructed staff members to gather in the newsroom and bring their cellphones. As reporters tweeted and recorded the meeting, Mr. Hengel shocked his employees by telling them he was resigning.
On Wednesday, as Mr. Hengel cleaned out his desk, reporters and editors tried to push ahead and publish a newspaper under circumstances they said were bizarre and unsettling — with anxiety about job security, a void in newsroom leadership and concern about editorial interference from the owners.
Less than two weeks ago, The Review-Journal, the biggest newspaper in Nevada, had been sold for $140 million to a buyer whose identity was kept secret for days behind layers of corporate management. Reporters said that articles related to the sale were reviewed and edited without their input in what they felt were attempts to paint the new owners in a more favorable light.
When the paper reported last week that Sheldon Adelson, the billionaire casino magnate and Republican donor, was behind the mysterious purchase, the revelation brought little relief, and many questioned whether Mr. Adelson, or the group he has chosen to oversee operations, would meddle with the paper’s journalistic independence.
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