John L. Smith The Untruthful Reporter By Steve Barket Las Vegas Nevada

It’s been a while, so I thought we should catch up with the latest regarding the focus of this website: John L. Smith, The Untruthful Reporter.

He’s still writing for the Nevada Independent. Birds of a feather, there. And he’s still writing for here, there and everywhere, scratching out work where he can get it.

His most recent write up for the Nevada Independent was headline, “Gov. Lombardo turns heads with appointment of Assad to GCB” (that’s the Gaming Control Board), published over a week ago. His lead paragraph is:

“Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo has begun making his first appointments to the state’s many boards and commissions, and this past week’s announcement of George Assad to the Gaming Control Board has drawn more than the usual number of furrowed brows and lines of newsprint.”

Well, that’s pretty squishy: “more than the usual number of furrowed brows and lines of newsprint.” Ok. You start out with “turned heads” and go on to “furrowed brows.” Another well-known tactic among current press people. Just make up stuff that can’t be verified. Whose heads are turning? How many? How many furrowed brows? And whose are they? And exactly how many lines of news print can be categorized as “more than the usual number? And where do they appear? Just drivel, in my opinion. Again, vague generalities that I guess John L. Smith and/or his Nevada Independent publisher, Jon Ralston, want to be stuck on Assad. Oldest trick in the books these days. Ah, well, I guess JLS will never learn. That’s why I call him “the untruthful reporter.” Never “just the facts, ma’am.” Always colored by his woefully skewed opinion — in my opinion.

John L. Smith’s Linkedin profile (no photo) shows him being a “journalist, author, freelance writer”.

He’s also writing for the CDC Gaming Reports website.

Still tweeting away, too (@jlnevadasmith).

Isn’t he about ready for retirement yet? Or did his bankruptcy at the hands of the late Sheldon Adelson, purchaser of the newspaper where JLS worked previously — the Las Vegas Review-Journal — put a big gouge in his financial solvency that he will never retire? There’s always his relatively new wife, Sally Denton, he could lean on. We hear she has a bit of a bank account.

He’s never going to make it off the sales of his books. After seeing the sales prices (see above — many of which can be had for less than $10) does “freelance” mean this guy actually works for free? (LOL!!)

Anyway, please take time to scroll down to see the reason I’m continuing to publish this website. John L. Smith has quite a history — and not all positive, in my opinion.

I have a complete lack of confidence around the credibility of John L. Smith. This is nothing new. I’ve had the same issues with his credibility since he published commentary articles about me that were full of errors in fact, and which omitted important facts. Kind of like the guy who spoon-fed him stuff about me to try to discredit me as a witness in a court case in which he was the detective. This guy’s name is Thomas Dillard, or TD Dillard or Tom Dillard — depending on whichever name he’s using on any given day. Dillard was a Las Vegas Metropolitan Police (LVMP or Metro) detective at the time and went on to become a private detective. He has a long and embattled history of unethical and inappropriate activity when it comes to trying to get convictions in his cases.

In three of the most high-profile homicide cases in the history of Nevada law enforcement, Dillard framed a number of people who ultimately were found to not be the murderers. Do you know the name Howard Haupt? How about John Harrison West? No? Maybe this one rings a bell: Ted Binion. Ted Binion was the son of Las Vegas casino magnate Benny Binion. Benny owned Binion Horseshoe. Ted worked there and was worth millions. The Horseshoe is still in operation in Downtown Las Vegas. Basic details of the three cases are:

1. The murder of a 7-year-old boy at Whiskey Pete’s Hotel & Casino in Primm, Nevada. Dillard compiled a case of circumstantial evidence against Howard Haupt, the accused killer. Haupt just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. Haupt was tried and found not guilty on all counts, and later sued Dillard and the Metro PD and won an $800,000 out-of-court settlement as a result.
2. The murder of Beth Lynn Jardine, an Air Force airman who was bludgeoned to death in her apartment in the Nellis AFB area of Las Vegas. Dillard fingered John Harrison West as the killer. Turns out he wasn’t. Turns out Dillard withheld exculpatory evidence — you know, the kind that would exonerate you as a murderer. Dillard didn’t pass that along to the defense team. However, eventually the evidence came to light pre-trial, but West had already been jailed for a month. West’s life was ruined. He lost his job as a pharmacist, his certification, his reputation, and more. A member of the jury pool called Dillard “pure evil.” How’d you like to wear that label? But he was, and is, pure evil, in my opinion.
3. The murder of Ted Binion, perhaps the highest profile case, still talked about today. Binion was the heir to the fortune of his father, Benny, who was the founder of Binion’s Horseshoe Casino. Dillard again built a case of circumstantial evidence, and in this case, a jury convicted Rick Tabish and Sandy Murphy. During their first trial, the defendants, were found guilty of murdering the casino baron. However the verdict was overturned on a technicality. The Nevada Supreme Court subsequently ordered a new trial, which lasted six weeks. The jury, after deliberating for some 18 hours, returned not guilty verdicts in the murder case, but did find the defendants guilty of conspiring to commit “burglary and/or larceny” as well as burglary and grand larceny.

Incredible, in the fullest sense of the word — as in NOT CREDIBLE.

It should be abundantly clear to anyone that former metro detective Thomas Dillard should also be known as a master of withholding exculpatory evidence.

The Nevada Independent online news agency operates as a DBA (Doing Business As) an entity known as the Nevada News Bureau Inc. (EIN: 27-3192716 | Las Vegas, NV, United States)

As an approved 501(c)3 entity (that’s a whole other discussion) they are required to file an IRS Form 990 every year to declare their contributions, distributions, etc. — their financials.

It’s an interesting thing to track. When we first checked in 2018, John Ralston, who runs the place, was listed as earning $215,024 ($214,650 in salary plus $14,374 in “other compensation from the organization and related organizations”).

We called him out on that kind of compensation being substantially more than any other person working for a similar entity in the state of Nevada, or anywhere outside major media markets like New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, etc. As we noted in our post here (Jon Ralston doing better than John L. Smith) that amount of compensation was “WAAAAAY out of line.”

Revenue for Nevada Independent has grown significantly year over year from 2016 ($405,150) to their last filing in 2020 ($2,468,840).

Since we pointed out Ralston’s compensation in that previous post, his total compensation has taken a significant dive over the years. His current total compensation now is $82,857 ($67,694 salary plus $15,163 in “other compensation from the organization and related organizations).

That’s a total compensation cut of $132,167. That’s pretty significant.

However, there’s no line item there for our “favorite” contributor, John L. Smith. He’s not listed as an “officer, director, trustee, key employee and highest compensated employee” in part VII of the IRS Form 990. Also, there’s a line item in Part IX line 7 that shows other salaries and wages as $684,293. So we guess John L. Smith is in there somewhere. His total compensation isn’t broken out separately.

Earning more than Ralston (at least as reported to the IRS) are two other employees — Chief Technology Officer Clifford Keeney, who receives a salary of $124,941; and Secretary Elizabeth Thompson, who receives a salary of $101,350. We find all that very interesting.

Here’s a little speculation, based on what we know about both Ralston and Smith.

1. There’s no way Ralston is supporting himself on a salary of $67,964 — perhaps in the “other expenses line item of $312,610? Just fishing here …
2. There’s no way Smith isn’t pulling down six figures. Again, speculation here. He had become used to six-figure salary compensation in that range in years past.

So what gives, guys? You owe the public some answers.

John L. Smith’s resignation letter (above) from his commentary job at the Las Vegas Review Journal from a few years back after Sheldon Adelson bought the newspaper popped up on my radar recently. I thought I’d take a minute to review and comment on it, because, in context, it’s priceless.

Smith’s opening two statements just reek of arrogance. He writes he learned about “not punching down in weight class,” which shows that he regards his status as being above all the “little people” he refers to in his second sentence.

Such arrogance.

He says, instead, that it’s the “blowhard billionaires” that are worthy of taking his shots. Unfortunately for Smith, one of those “blowhard billionaires” he’s referring to, Sheldon Adelson, became his boss at the newspaper shortly before Smith tendered his resignation. (That’s one of the “recent events” that he’s referring to in that other highlighted section.)

Oops. And to add to that, new boss Adelson had previously sued John L. Smith into bankruptcy over how Smith characterized him in a book he wrote and published in 2005, “Sharks in the Desert” — to the tune of $15 million. Oops again. That probably made it more than a little uncomfortable for Smith, who probably knew his time at the newspaper would be measured in days, weeks or months, not years.

In fact, I did a separate post on that and titled it, “Top 10 Awkward Moments for Las Vegas Review-Journal Columnist John L. Smith.” And here’s what I listed as the Number 1 most awkward moment for Smith at the paper:

Kinda got caught with your pants down, didn’t you, John L. Smith? When a guy who sued you in a $15 million libel suit walks into your newsroom like a boss, because he just became your boss, it’s time to try to hang onto as much integrity as you can muster as you grab your shorts and scurry out the door. No need to read the writing on the wall; when that happens, you knew it was time to go. I’ll give you that, at least.

I received anonymous information that Sally Denton — wife of my favorite DUI Guy, John L. Smith of Las Vegas and the Nevada Indpendent online news site — allegedly was more than perturbed about this website and my view of John L. Smith.

According to the source, Sally made a remark that I didn’t quite understand. She said something to the effect (and I’m paraphrasing the source’s comment to me) that I didn’t know who she (meaning Sally Denton) was, and that I didn’t know her family name and history in Las Vegas.

Pardon me, Sally Denton. You’re right: I didn’t know about your family background and history, which I heard you allegedly think qualifies you as a big shot around Las Vegas.

Guess what? IT DOESN’T!

And guess what else? I DON’T CARE, EVEN IF IT DID!

The days of Las Vegas “juice” and influencing are long gone. You’re living in the past and in a dream world. Sorry to rattle you back to reality, but I care about as much about you and the Denton family name as I do a tempest in a teapot: zero. Zilch. Nada.

I Googled Denton’s family name and found two Dentons who were or are “legal eagles”: her late father, Ralph Lloyd Denton, who was an attorney here since 1955 and served as district attorney of Esmeralda County as well as two years on the Clark County Commission; and her brother, Mark, a Nevada District Court judge since 1998.

Everybody has to answer to somebody. As Bob Dylan put it, “You gotta serve somebody.” That’s what this website is about, Sally. Husband John L. Smith is answering to me right now.

Remember that number:

$215,024

Jon Ralston, formerly of The Ralston Report, now has a very sweet gig as editor of the Nevada Independent, an online entity (https://thenevadaindependent.com/).

And when I say sweet gig, I mean perhaps the sweetest gig in the history of journalism-ing. As an editor, you do a lot of work; no doubt about that. You’re juggling dozens of balls trying to keep everything from hitting the ground. You work long hours — 70, 80 hours a week is not unheard of. You easily can work 12-16 hours a day, seven days a week. Sometimes even more. It can be an all-consuming 24/7 job. There’s lots of responsibility that comes with the job, too.

For all that, editors across the land get paid better than most in the news business. The average newspaper editor’s salary, according to the online jobs entity, ZipRecruiter, is $52,947. (See ZipRecruiter graphic here: ZipRecruiter.com Editor Salary) In Las Vegas, it’s slightly lower — $51,781.

Guess what Nevada Independent editor Jon Ralston pulls in annually? $215,024. That’s right:

$215,024

You saw that number before. It’s not a typo.

As a layperson, based on what I’ve found, in my opinion that salary is out of line. WAAAAAY out of line.

Wonder what Nevada Independent colleague columnist and Jon Ralston buddy John L. Smith is pulling down for writing his columns?

“Scandalous!” That’s the word a long-time reporter and editor who’s had 30-plus years in the news business described that kind of salary for an editor who is not in a major market (think, New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles).

The state of Nevada, even with Las Vegas, is not a major market.

You can check it out and evaluate it yourself: https://www.thenevadaindependent.com

Think about it. Is what you’re seeing substantive enough to warrant that kind of six-figure salary?

Didn’t think so, in my opnion.

You would think that with the kind of experience Jon Ralston has in the news & media business, he’d have a clue. Like, for example, in hiring staff. Why would Ralston hire the notorious truth-shader (in my opinion) John L. Smith as a columnist for the Nevada Independent? I guess Ralston never did a due-dilligence check on Smith to see what Smith’s real background is — not just the one Smith wants the public to see. There’s a whole other layer to John L. Smith that’s easy enough to find if you just “Google” him. Like the information I’ve surfaced on this website.

This is another example of how tone-deaf Jon Ralston is, in my opinion: He set up a poker game on Mother’s Day to raise money for his Nevada Independent website.

Are you kidding me? What a digital panhandler, in my opinion.

What man or woman in their right mind would take hours of their time to sit and play poker to try to raise money for Ralston on Mother’s Day?

Would you? Did you? (If you did, you’re as clueless as Ralston is, in my humble opinion.)

Here’s how that would probably go:

“Hey honey – yeah, Happy Mother’s Day. You don’t mind if I spend a few hours playing poker today, do you? I mean it’s for a good cause and all. Um, charity, it says here. Huh? What? No, it doesn’t have anything to do with Mother’s Day, it’s just being held on Mother’s Day.”

“#@$% *&} %#!@* X$%Z!!!!”

“Ok, Ok, I won’t! Sheesh! Sensitive much?”

As you can see from the graphic on this page, Ralston calls this a “Charity Tournament”. Are you kidding me? He got away with classifying the non-profit Nevada Independent as a charity? Is this what we’re supposed to believe?

---

char·i·ty

noun: charity; plural noun: charities
1.
an organization set up to provide help and raise money for those in need.

---

Key phrase there, when it comes to defining charity: “those in need.”

I’m not sure Ralston, who in 2018 pulled in a tidy $214,024 annual salary and who raised some $1.5 million-plus for the Nevada Independent through donations to his non-profit.

Cry me the blues, Jon. Are you kidding me?

The only thing I remember about Jon Ralston was his old show, The Ralston Report.

Jon Ralston would sit on the end of his seat and attack someone; he appeared as if he were coming on like a pit bull, but in my opinion, he really was more like a Chihuahua.

And I love Chihuahuas. I even have two. Their names are Emily Blanca and Sasha Tinkerbell (see above).

But I don’t love Jon Ralston. Although I do like the Nevada Independent he currently is publishing. It is interesting to read, and I have to give Jon Ralston credit for publishing everyday. It’s a lot of work.

However, for a non-profit, which has to depend primarily on donations, allegedly, I know credibility is the cornerstone of journalism. As I keep pointing out (and I don’t know why people don’t get this) John L. Smith has a really checkered past with DUIs and a bankruptcy and other things that should preclude him from working any longer in his chosen profession.

But no. From one DUI Guy to another, I guess all is fair, right? I appreciate nothing more than seeing my two DUI Guys together, working for a common cause. Just makes my heart swell. And it sharpens focus.

Dear Mr. Ralston,

I don’t know you, and I have never interacted with you.

However, you popped up on my radar screen after I saw you publishing pieces by John L. Smith on your online Nevada Independent publication. I find the Independent generally informative and interesting. However, I would say that in your world more than others, honesty and integrity are the cornerstone of credibility for any writer, reporter, editor or publication. You must agree with that. Which leaves me perplexed, and I’ll tell you why.

I wonder why on earth would you give a voice to a man who has little integrity or shame. I’m talking about John L. Smith, whose columns you now publish. During and after testifying for the government in what I would call a “nothing” case concerning Ricardo Bonvicin, where attorney Tom Pitaro hired private detective and former Metro cop Tom Dillard, Smith attacked me when he had a relatively large platform to disseminate his falsehoods and half-truths through his column at the Las Vegas Review Journal (LVRJ). You’re allowing him to do the same thing now – to perpetuate his shoddy logic and the lazy attention he pays to facts.

I wonder why on earth you would give a voice to a man who has serious credibility issues, including DUI, bankruptcy and libel litigation. I have spent the past 11 years seeing exactly who those people are, who I just mentioned above. Just so you’re aware, when Tom Dillard was a Metro cop, he became the antagonist in two hugely high-profile cases: one where he withheld exculpatory evidence and a second case involving defendant Howard Haupt, accused with killing a 7-year-old boy and shaping evidence that would point to Haupt and disregarding evidence that would lead him elsewhere. He even went so far as to try to intimidate the judge in that case. Haupt was found not guilty and went on to sue Dillard, ultimately receiving a high six-figure settlement.

John L. Smith, a k a, John Lyle Smith, a current contributor to your publication and a man who was aware of these things, turned a blind eye to all this, even as one juror was quoted as calling Tom Dillard, “pure evil.” (Ex-Las Vegas Metro Detective Thomas — a/k/a Tom — Dillard Nailed by Jury for $1 Million, Called “Pure Evil”)

How you could look the other way or not take any of these clearly known and publicly available documents about Dillard and the cozy relationship he has with John L. Smith into account when they went on a personal rampage and tried to smear me in the LVRJ is beyond me.

As life would have it, John L. Smith, the “DUI Guy” with a huge bankruptcy and other questionable behaviors, is without a home. Somehow he ended up on your doorstep, which I find fascinating.

So my direct question to you, Jon, is why? My opinions regarding John L. Smith are based on 11 years of research into that of an unsuccessful writer – one whose books were pretty much disregarded and pretty much tanked (Google it; you can find them selling for mere pennies on the dollar online) – who has been smeared in litigation and whose accusations have little or no credibility behind them. Why do you give voice and a platform to this man?

Wouldn’t you think the people who would consider donating to your publication would question your credibility when you’re publishing writers like John L. Smith, who has such serious credibility issues connected to him?

Along comes an item from the Las Vegas Review Journal this past week regarding recent financial troubles at Nevada Public Radio in which the interim CEO, Jerry Nadal, admitted that the station was on the brink of bankruptcy.

This admission comes only a month after the National Pubic Radio member station announced that KNPR radio CEO and President, Flo Rogers, was stepping down amidst what the station called “severe cash flow issues.”

All this comes as no surprise to me. In fact, I wrote about this more than a year and a half ago. Flo Rogers gave the man I have labeled the “Untruthful Reporter” a voice on the radio station she was in charge of at the time (as president and CEO of KNPR) by hiring John L. Smith to do commentary pieces. JLS walked away from his job at the LVRJ after billionaire Sheldon Adelson bought the newspaper. Smith didn’t think he would get a fair shake from Adelson at the LVRJ. They had a little history. Adelson sued him previously for $15 million after Smith wrote and had a book published that contained factual inaccuracies about his boss. That would make me nervous, too.

So John L. Smith hops over to KNPR to continue his stream of untruthful reporting. I label him as that not just because of the book incident with Adelson, but also because of the inaccurate and untruthful reporting about me in connection with a court case I was involved in years ago. (Ancient history, by the way, but somehow it’s suddenly rising to the top of Google search results when you search my name.)

And that’s not all. John L. Smith has a history of looking the other way when facts don’t fit his narrative. Just take a look through this website and you’ll see what I mean. So it’s no surprise that the addition of Smith to the KNPR lineup did nothing to boost revenue at the station. Smith is not what you call a revenue generator. All you need to do to get a handle on understanding the valuation of John L. Smith is to know that most of the books he’s written start at .10 cents on Amazon.com and go up from there. Garrison Keillor he’s not. As I said then, and I’ll say it again now, John L. Smith “has ceased to be relevant in the Las Vegas metro area – if he ever was.”

If this is the kind of decision making that exemplified Flo Rogers’ tenure at KNPR, no wonder they were bleeding money and on the brink of bankruptcy.

LOL!

Call it a hunch, but I doubt it. (By the way, Happy Birthday, Sally!)

Story No. 2 from John L. Smith and the Las Vegas Review Journal has suddenly appeared at the top of Google search results when you search my name – Steve Barket Las Vegas.

Here’s a clip of the top of the story with headline showing:

There’s something going on here, and I believe there’s quite an intricate web of co-conspirators at work. Yep, call me a conspiracy theorist.

Since the resurface of this 2009 case, I have decided to do an entire website specifically on Ricardo Bonvicin, his bankruptcy, an astonishingly large payout to him by the state of Nevada, and his continuing financial challenges.

Then there’s Tom “The Walrus” Pitaro (that’s what he looks like to me, LOL) – and the story of how his own brother sued him and then eventually died. What good ol’ Tommy boy doesn’t realize is that through an attorney who no longer lives in Las Vegas, I was put together with his brother while he was still alive. We had quite a conversation.

And then there’s also Thomas Doyle Dillard, the ex-Metro cop turned P.I., who I have recently personally seen walking into Pitaro’s office while I was driving by. He looks like an old beatnik with pure white hair and a goofy goatee. Over the years, John L. Smith had a relationship with Dillard, some of the highlights of which he forgot to publish. One of them cost the state $2 million for withholding exculpatory evidence that would have exonerated an innocent man in a high-profile murder case; what that man went through as a result, even though he was ultimately cleared, destroyed his life. A number of years later, the real killer was found. I agree with the jury’s opinion in the case, in which they labeled Dillard as pure evil.

Recently Dillard bought new home and moved to other side of town. How this guy can look in the mirror after hurting people the way he has and causing the kind of devastation he has caused and still go to sleep is a mystery to me.

The three men mentioned above – Bonvicin, Pitaro, and Dillard – were supposed to be standup guys serving the public. In my opinion, they were anything but that. Credibility can be a very elusive thing when you behave the way these three have, in my opinion.

I have been told by anonymous sources that allegedly Sally Denton, John L. Smith’s new wife, who is closing in on septuagenarian status, (that’s 70 years old – she turns 66 on Sept. 26; JLS hasn’t yet reached the age of 60) has financial wealth and stability, at least more than John L. Smith has.

So, let’s just call it a hunch!

I’ll let you readers do the math and see if all this adds up to what I believe is a concerted effort to drag my name through the mud 10 years after the fact. Why else would two 10-year-old stories suddenly surface at the top of a Google search under my name?

After experiencing first-hand the untruthfulness about myself in articles that appeared in the Las Vegas Review Journal beginning back in 2009 under John L. Smith’s byline, I tried to contact him to see if he had me confused with someone else.

Ridiculous.

He was then in the clutches of Tom Pitaro, who I’ve nicknamed “The Walrus,” and the infamous Tom Dillard who, by the way, moved, bought a new house and is trying to enjoy his retirement.

As you can see from the hit counter on this website (top right), I’ve gotten well north of a million hits. John L. Smith and his shenanigans apparently attract quite a bit of interest.

After his last attempt at 15 minutes of fame when he made a stand over what he could or could not write about at the LVRJ after Sheldon Adelson took over as owner, I actually found that whole ordeal laughable. Imagine that — a business owner actually giving a directive about what an employee could or couldn’t do.

John L. Smith, in my opinion, has a real issue with the truth. I was sent the photo you see above — which I’m publishing under fair use — of John and his new wife, Sally Denton. After looking at that picture (Yeesh!), I was confused and had to do some research to find out if that photo of Smith was actually with his wife or his mother! Turns out, it really is his wife!

In my research of Sally Denton, I’ve found that her father was Ralph Denton, a civil rights attorney who passed away back in 2012, and her mother, Sara, was a political consultant. She also is a writer and started her career with the local paper in Boulder City, Nevada, where she was fired because of her “rather candid” (her words) coverage of politics. This is according to an encyclopedia.com article about her.

Still, I couldn’t fathom Smith’s motivation behind this latest personal connection. We don’t hear anything about Smith’s ex-wife or his daughter, who at one time was fighting cancer.

Who knows? if he had stayed at the LVRJ after Adelson took over as owner, at least John L. Smith might have continued his somewhat recognizable byline in the Las Vegas area. In his current gig at Nevada Public Radio he doesn’t draw much attention.

JohnFlo

I have nicknamed these two “JohnFlo” (You remember Brangelina, right?) Well there you go, JohnFlo … a match made in public radio heaven.

I have to ask myself what does 53-year-old (soon to be 54 in March 2018) Florence Madeline Rogers feel is so important about John L. Smith (my favorite “DUI Guy”) that he have a voice on a National Public Radio station? I for one think that John L. Smith’s moral compass is way out of whack. I find it hard to imagine what KNPR — which relies on public donations for part of their funding — finds so important about a bankrupt, divorced, DUI Guy like John L. Smith. What does he really have to offer? As I’ve noted several times, most of his books on Amazon start at .10 cents and go up from there — a not-so-subtle indication of how highly valued his writing is. This alone is a mystery in itself. He’s ceased to be relevant in the Las Vegas metro area — if he ever was. I have pointed out the many inconsistencies in his writing and his character within this website. Just have a look around to see the many issues he’s been on the wrong side of.

So here we go, JohnFlo … How low can you two go?!?

I love satire and my opinion.

Help, please. I’m asking for help for any information about the circumstances noted above. Any and all information I receive will be kept strictly confidential. You can email me directly at StevenBarket@gmail.com.

Unlike John L. Smith, I do not write or publish anything that I do not have a document in hand to prove. On a consistent basis, over a number of years, I have received information from several people regarding John L. Smith. From info I’ve received, including what I’ve gleaned from John L. Smith’s old coffee hangout on Sahara, and the many stories about Sally Denton as well as dozens of other stories, I have only published information that I thought was truthful and that I’ve been able to back up by some sort of corroborating evidence, whether that is some sort of paperwork, or legal documentation, or another source or sources.

KNPR and people like Flo Rogers, Nevada Public Radio President and CEO, obviously look the other way when it comes to moral turpitude. When I read her quote in the Las Vegas Sun, I realized that it was obvious she had no clue of John L. Smith’s real background or what I’ve unearthed about him and published within this website. Take a look at what Flo Rogers had to say about John L. Smith as quoted in a story published by the Las Vegas Sun when she hired him almost immediately after he left his job at the Las Vegas Review Journal:

“We thought it was important that our community continues to hear John’s voice, so we extended the invitation immediately when we learned of his resignation from the Las Vegas Review-Journal,” said Nevada Public Radio President and CEO Flo Rogers.

What’s so important about a bankrupt DUI reporter that Flo Rogers thought the public needs to hear? I’m at a total loss on this one.

Jerry Nadal, according to your bio posted on KNPR, you are Senior Vice President of Resident Shows Division Worldwide, Cirque du Soleil. Anthony Pearl, you are General Counsel & Chief Compliance Officer, The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas.

Gentlemen: Let’s talk about your day jobs. Obviously, being in and around the casino industry, you’re all aware of the constraints, rules and regulations. I’m wondering, then, why would you associate yourself with someone like John L. Smith, whose credibility has been brought into question?

Again, let’s glaze over the DUI, the libel lawsuit he faced, his filing for bankruptcy protection and his use of his position to further his own agenda; would you allow such a person to be a spokesperson for Cirque d’ Soleil and the Cosmopolitan Casino and Resort?

Perhaps the word, “spokesperson” is a little over-reaching, but I’m just wondering if you take your positions with KNPR seriously, or if they are nothing more than mere labels, perhaps honorary titles?

I’m trying to wrap my head around why you would give a self-promoting, narcissistic (in my opinion), personal-agenda driven individual like John L. Smith a platform like KNPR to continue his B.S. I was wondering if we could have a discussion about KNPR and moral turpitude. You can reach me at: stevenbarket@gmail.com

Please let me know.

In addition, public radio KNPR is funded by contributions. Why would anyone continue to support, let alone donate money, to an organization that won’t address what I consider to be the moral turpitude of one of its correspondents.

Let’s forget the DUI, let’s glaze over the bankruptcy, forget the personal agenda, not get into the messy divorce, the whole Sheldon Adelson/Las Vegas Review Journal episode …

I am so sick of John L. Smith’s agenda, who says he resigned/was fired from the LVRJ for not being able to write about it’s current owner, Sheldon Adelson.

John L. Smith’s authoring career speaks volumes as to the impact he has in the Las Vegas area. His books selling on Amazon start at .10 cents.

This is who KNPR is giving voice to: a man whose books start at .10 cents, has a DUI and a bankruptcy in his past and who is deeply rooted in the Las Vegas, good ol’ boy system.

These two disreputable men — retired Las Vegas Metropolitan Police detective Tom Dillard and John L. Smith — who came across my personal radar when I was testifying in court proceedings as Dillard began spoon-feeding John L. Smith false, defamatory and damaging information about me, which Smith then turned around and published in the LVRJ. Dillard even went to the extreme by personally threatening through intimidation my son, who was in grade school at the time.

John L. Smith was greatly influenced by Tom Dillard. He wound up writing five untruthful articles about me in the LVRJ, one of which is still available today. (This is why I’ve labeled him as the “untruthful” reporter.) It was unprecedented for John L. Smith to write five articles that focused on me. To say Dillard’s background and professionalism is sketchy is an understatement. As a result of Dillard’s lackluster behavior, several million-dollar payouts had to be made (that’s public taxpayer money, by the way) to defendants in cases who were wrongly and unjustly accused of very serious crimes, up to and including murder. He pinned cases on innocent people and ruined their lives. They never recovered.

Let’s look at just one example of Tom Dillard’s past: the multi-million dollar payout the state of Nevada made to John Harrison West, in which Dillard withheld exculpatory evidence that would have exonerated him of the murder of Airman Beth Lynn Jardine.

Fast-forward 20-some years, the actual murderer was found by the excellent work of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police cold case unit.

Nice work, ex-Det. Dillard, a low-life scumbag in my opinion, who just bought a new house, by the way, on the other side of town — the Centennial/North Las Vegas area.

JOHN L. SMITH — A LITTLE MAN
WITH LITTLE EXPOSURE & LITTLE CREDIBILITY*

Father time tells all. John, you need to update your pictures online. You haven’t looked like that old Review-Journal photo in years; no one could ID you in a lineup if they had seen that photo and had to pick out from among a handful of other guys. You’re still trying to push your BS agenda, and you’re still “The Untruthful Reporter” in my opinion. We still want to know, did you get fired from the Review-Journal? You say you resigned in protest because the LVRJ wouldn’t unchain you and let you write about Sheldon Adelson, so I’m wondering where all those hard-hitting pieces are on him. I’m hearing crickets.

You picked on wrong guy all those years ago, when you took about two minutes to think about what you were writing about me. (You should have known better than to believe everything you were spoon-fed about me by someone who clearly had an agenda against me.) And now you’re out of a job — for a number of years now — and still have no credibility.

Even though it looks like you’re getting some help with your Search Engine Relevancy, it also looks like you must be the least-hardest working man on the Internet. You may have gotten your personal website bumped to the top of the first page of Google search results, but I’m not really sure how you’ve done that, as your primary website, jlnevadasmith.com, pretty much has nothing on it — links to a handful of $2 books you’ve written (at least one of those books had a used copy starting at 10 cents — woooo!), an email page, a brief bio page, something called Nevada Smith Press (which is still under construction at the time of this writing), and that’s pretty much it. Underwhelming.

Same with his Twitter account, @jlnevadasmith (Twitter handle). A whole bunch of re-Tweets and not much else.

It must be tough to be the least-hardest working man on the Internet.

*In my opinion.

John L. Smith is the hardest working man in the opinion/commentary writing business these days. Or is he?

He left the Las Vegas Journal review almost a year ago and he’s barely been heard from since.

He landed a gig on KNPR and now writes about once a week for an audience of about two. Ok, it’s more than two, but the weekly audience is minimal — 70,000-plus, which is a drop in the bucket in the Las Vegas market, which has a total population of close to two million in the Metro area. In comparison, the Las Vegas Review Journal, where Smith was formerly employed, has a Sunday circulation of 184,000, according to it’s own self-reported numbers.

Smith has essentially disappeared from public view and relevance. (Seriously, do YOU make sure you’re at a radio so you can listen to John L. Smith when he’s on KNPR? Do you even know when he airs on KNPR? I thought so.) He’s effectively dropped off the face of the earth. He also has his columns published on The Daily Beast, so that should count for something. I guess. After all, it’s ranked as the 393rd-most trafficked website in the United States according to Alexa. So there’s that. (Is that the sound of crickets I’m hearing?)

Now wait, though … to be fair he does have a Twitter account. And he does have his own website. On Twitter, he describes himself as a “freelance journalist.” Uh-oh.

So goes the the life of the man I like to call “The Untruthful Reporter.” John L Smith: DUI, arrest, bankruptcy, libel suit, divorce — when you look for clues about someone’s life and these sorts of labels pop up related to that person you know there’s trouble. He’s trying to keep this all in the shadows, while I’m trying to expose it to let people know just what kind of guy he is. I won’t state my opinion here — you can already guess — but I ask you to think about these labels, understand how they relate to John L. Smith by reading other posts and pages on this website, and form your own opinion.

Fake news? Think about it. It certainly was in my case after being called out by John L. Smith as a bad guy in the five untruthful articles he wrote about me in the LVRJ. For a little more perspective on that, check out my website post on Transparency: The Reason for This Blog.

I read an item with interest the other day on the poitical Web site Politico titled, Sheldon Adelson Tightens Grip on Review-Journal.

The thrust of it, at least as far as I’m concerned, was that apparently a list has been developed that contains the names of a half-dozen or so journalists who “may be targeted for departure” because they “rubbed Adelson the wrong way.”

That jives with what I’ve heard as well, and I can’t help wondering if one of the names on that list is columnist John L. Smith.

For a little quick background, you might remember that billionaire Sheldon Adelson bought the Las Vegas Review Journal, where Smith is employed, late last year. Adelson and Smith have a somewhat strained history. Adelson sued Smith into bankruptcy in a $15 million libel suit about falsehoods Smith wrote about him in a book published several years ago.

With Adelson taking over ownership of the LVRJ, speculation immediately began about the kind of changes that Adelson would make at the newspaper. My take on it was that Smith would be one of the ones on the short list to get booted out the door. I’ll reference an article I wrote, titled “Top 10 Awkward Moments for Las Vegas Review Journal Columnist John L. Smith“. In that item, I wrote that the No. 1 most awkward moment for Smith was the following:

“1. Finding out that the person who slapped him with a $15 million libel suit and one of the richest men in the world, Sheldon Adelson, just bought the newspaper where he works! Tick, tick, tick, Mr. Smith. How long do you figure you have to continue to be gainfully employed at the LVRJ knowing that your new boss once sued you into bankruptcy?!?! For LIBEL!!!! Not a comfortable position for a newspaperman like yourself to be in.”

A while back, I also wrote a post about hoping that John L. Smith never had to look for another job, because the way his real resume might read might come across as not so professional — John L Smith, Here’s Steve Barket’s Wish: That You Can Always Keep Your Job at the LVRJ! … LOL! And if a future employer ever Googled him and came across this blog — well, let’s just say it might give them pause in the hiring process. (Give it a try — Google John L. Smith’s name, or John L. Smith and Las Vegas Review Journal and see how high this blog ranks in the results.)

So we’ll wait to see how this all plays out. You already have my opinion about how this is going to go for Smith.

A little while ago, I was contacted by a New York Times reporter named Ravi (who I assume is their writer Ravi Somaiya) who said he was putting together a story about Sheldon Adelson’s recent purchase of the Las Vegas Review Journal; one of the LVRJ’s columnists, John L. Smith; and me and my website, johnlsmithlibel.com.

The working storyline of the article, as outlined above, was that I must have been paid by Sheldon Adelson, the newspaper, or the Sands — which Adelson owns and makes his fortune from by running — to write and publish my blog, which is none too kind towards LVRJ columnist John L. Smith. I will repeat what I’ve written about previously on this website and summarize by saying that in my opinion, John L. Smith is a lowlife scumbag who mistakenly believes he’s above everybody else, who follows the money that will line his own pocket. He somehow appeared at a trial I was testifying at — — and proceeded to write five factually incorrect columns about me relating to the trial that were full of untruths, half truths and omitted truths (I like to call them “lies” but I’m being polite here today) and twisted my testimony into something that it wasn’t. He did no due diligence and only wrote what was fed to him.

In my humble opinion, John L. Smith was just one part of the conspiracy of intimidation that came from the defendant’s side of the courtroom, which was being run by attorney Tom Pitaro, Amy Chellini and cohorts. During this trial, at the same time Smith was trying to intimidate me by writing defamatory columns about me, Pitaro and another of his cronies, ex-Metro cop and civilian private investigator Tom Dillard (T. D. Dillard who cost the people of Clark county millions of dollars in legal fees and cash pay outs), continued their strategy of intimidation by showing up at my young son’s private elementary school to “surveil” him. Are you kidding me?!? In a great twist of irony, John L. Smith now works for Adelson, the very billionaire who sued him for $15 million for a libelous writeup about him in a book Smith wrote some years ago called “Sharks in the Desert.” Several years later, Adelson dropped the libel case and the court dismissed it with prejudice. Still, Smith had filed for bankruptcy, which went forward. And all that was going on at a time when Smith’s own daughter was undergoing cancer treatment. As I’ve mentioned previously, that’s a terrible thing that no child and no parent should ever have to deal with. However, when he had the means (accounts with a total of more than $200,000 in them), Smith didn’t foot the bill for his daughter’s cancer treatment. He opted to have her go to the Ronald McDonald House charity, which exists to help support people with little or no means with housing while the child is undergoing cancer treatment. And they don’t turn away anyone. But here’s the kicker. When John L. Smith, “The Untruthful Reporter” as I call him, filed for bankruptcy, we see that he stiffed the very people who treated his daughter for cancer – just outright didn’t pay them.

I always wonder how much longer, given all this history between Adelson and Smith, “The Untruthful Reporter” will be able to hang on at the newspaper. So the short answer for me to the reporter is that, no, I’ve never been paid a dime by anyone to do anything related to the website. I do that of my own free will and as a public service and an exercise in the First Ammendment, so that the citizens of Las Vegas can be fully informed about who is writing commentary pieces for their consumption to try to influence public opinion and what the facts are behind the facade. It is my pleasure to offer all that up without compensation of any kind.

In a column John L. Smith wrote a little while ago, it’s interesting to note that he called out new Las Vegas Journal Review ​(LVRJ) ​owner, Sheldon Adelson, by challenging him to “prove doubters wrong.”

And who are those doubters and why would they be doubting? As far as I can tell, it’s John L. Smith and his cohorts at the LVRJ — and others in the media. They’re wringing their hands that a man like Adelson, who leans more conservative than liberal, would ​use his influence as a newspaper owner in the political arena! And in this, a pivotal presidential election year!

Here’s what Smith writes: “Perhaps the approaching backstretch of the 2016 presidential election, in which Adelson plays such a large role as a Republican Party mega-donor, is merely coincidence. But he wouldn’t be the first wealthy businessman to buy a newspaper and play press baron, and his family already owns the right-wing daily Israel Hayom.”

Well, at least at this writing, it looks like Donald Trump (who is self-funding his presidential candidacy​, by the way — an important point to note​) is the odds-on favorite to win the Republican nomination, barring a major upheaval in the winner-take-all primaries coming up on March 15. So I’m not sure just how much of an impact Sheldon Adelson will have or how much he would have to insert himself into the process here in Las Vegas, Nevada. So far, it looks like not much if at all.

But the real reason, JLS write​s​, that he is scratching his head over Adelson is because, “His disdain for the working press and its prickly processes is palpable — and easily illustrated by his well-known litigiousness.”

Ahhh … there we are. Smith remains angry over being “forced to declare bankruptcy” as he puts it, after being sued by Adelson for $15 million over a book Smith published years ago, which has been written about in this blog. ​Adelson actually gave Smith an out to avoid the $15 million suit, but Smith opted not to take it. Smith doesn’t mention that. Convenient omission of facts.

And he further tacks on proof of that ​litigiousness ​by bringing up the “Adelson litigation involving Macau gaming reporter Kate O’Keeffe of The Wall Street Journal. She’s being sued personally — not her powerhouse newspaper — in a Hong Kong court for calling [Adelson] a ‘scrappy, foul-mouthed billionaire from working-class Dorchester’ in an article.”

So Smith really does have disdain for Adelson for the disdain he supposedly has regarding the press​​.​ ​

I’d like to flip the tables here and ask Smith if he can be the bigger man.

Smith made a mistake and paid for it in a big way. If you’re going to take on a guy with the wealth of Sheldon Adelson and write factually incorrect information about him, you’d have to expect ​being sued into oblivion​ comes with the territory. The facts of the case are what they are. Smith may whine and complain about the amount of the suit. But that doesn’t change the facts of the suit. And isn’t it an ironic twist that Smith, an LVRJ columnist, ​suddenly finds himself working for Adelson, now the owner of ​that newspaper.

John L. Smith, you may not find it a surprise that I’m one of your biggest doubters. Why? because you wrote factually incorrect information about me, just as you did Sheldon Adelson​​. And knowing the shoddy work you did related to me and Adelson, I’m wondering just how many other people and topics you have written about and written off while getting substantial facts wrong or conveniently omitting facts.

You’re not only a columnist, JLS, you’re a newspaperman. And a newspaperman’s stock in trade is credibility. In my eyes, you’re incredible — and by that I mean in the true sense of the word, not credible. You have an owner who may also view you as being incredible — again, meaning not credible. And if the owner of the newspaper at which you work does not believe in your credibility, how much time do you actually think you have left to work there? The way I see it, I’m kind of surprised you’re still around.

So let’s see if you can prove your doubters wrong, John L. Smith, and write the truth, write the facts, and not skew ​the facts or omit the facts to suit your particular point of view. That would be a good start.

After thinking about this a little bit, what we have with Tom Dillard ex-metro cop and John L. Smith is a clear-cut case of “dumb and dumber.”

Investigator and former Metro cop Tom Dillard and his cohort in the press, John L. Smith of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, in my opinion, conspired to try to intimidate and/or embarrass me years ago during a FBI case and investigation.

And how do you do that? Well, one way is to work the media — in this case, a person I call the untruthful reporter, John L. Smith. So if you’re Dillard, and you’re feeding false and incomplete information to a media representative who is writing about this case, you can be pretty effective if you can convince that person to write derogatory items about me.

Dillard picked the wrong guy to “INTIMIDATE”. Through his shenanigans, Tom Dillard has cost the tax payers of Clark County, Nevada, millions of dollars. And he has inflicted mental anguish on countless people.

Well things have changed a lot since 2009. John L. Smith has been having a rough go of things (just check out the blog posts detailing all that on this website, johnlsmithlibel.com). Tom Dillard seems to have fallen by the wayside, too, as his office has been closed down with signs in the window that the property is for sale.

Brought to you by our companion collaborator, “Awkward Family Photos,” (just kidding about that) here now are the Top 10 awkward moments for columnist John L. Smith of the Las Vegas Review-Journal:

10. Opting out of paying for his daughter’s cancer treatment. Smith’s daughter suffered from cancer years ago. And of course, that’s a terrible thing no child and no parent should ever have to deal with. However, we know that when he could, and when he had the means (accounts with a total of more than $200,000 in them), he didn’t foot the bill for his daughter’s cancer treatment. He opted to go to the Ronald McDonald House charity, which exists to help support people with little or no means with housing. And they don’t turn away anyone. But here’s the kicker. When John “The Con” L. Smith filed for bankruptcy, we see that he stiffed the very people who treated his daughter for cancer – just outright didn’t pay them.

9. John L. Smith’s LVRJ column about Michael McDonald and Miracle Flights for Kids. It’s interesting that John L. Smith took Michael McDonald to task for having “personally benefitted” from a loan McDonald helped arrange from a children’s charity (Miracle Flights for Kids) while serving on the board of Med Lien Management — the organization that would receive the $2.2. million loan, according to Smith’s reporting. And afterwards, according to that reporting, McDonald received a $140,000 shareholder loan. Kind of ironic, isn’t it, that Smith, who used a charity for underprivileged families and who filed bankruptcy to avoid dealing with a huge libel case and his own daughter’s cancer care, would call out a guy like McDonald in his column for doing what he did.

8. The five articles he wrote on me, Steve Barket. I’m certain that those articles were inspired by a certain lawyer who was trying to win a case and was trying to trash my reputation by feeding inaccuracies and untruthful information to John L. Smith, who wrote about what in the grand scheme of things was really a nothing case.

7. His DUI arrest. JLS was pulled over and cited for DUI back in early 2011. He pleaded “no contest” on Feb. 24, 2011. And that arrest really became the impetus and inspiration for the creation of this blog, which I’ve used to shine a light into places that almost never have a light shined on them and exposed to public scrutiny. I think Mr. Smith now has a feeling about how HIS hit jobs in the newspaper have affected regular citizens trying to do an honest day’s work. Like me.

6. His divorce. Not too long after his DUI, John Lyle Smith and his wife Patricia Goldberg Smith (also know as Pamela Goldberg) filed a divorce proceeding on April 29, 2011. Prior to that, I had been in possession of information that I declined to print, which included alleged stories of Smith’s excessive drinking and womanizing. But I chose the high road and declined to accept the pictures or print anything about that. The photos had been taken in the parking lot of the Coffee Pub off of Sahara Ave. in Las Vegas, Nevada. Given the divorce filing, which came sort of out of the blue, I understand a little better what that backstory is all about.

5. John L. Smith’s alleged ex-girlfriend talks. In an email to me, a woman claiming to be Smith’s ex-girlfriend tells me that Smith is, “an unscrupulous liar and cheat and one day will get all the payback he deserves.” (Is that possibly coming soon with the Adelson family purchase of the Las Vegas Review-Journal?) The email writer also said, as I also have been saying for quite a while, that Smith is NOT the man of the year he seems to be purporting to be. There was quite a bit of detail in the email regarding personal information related to Smith, which supported this woman’s claim of being an ex-girlfriend.

4. John L. Smith breaks his leg. Seemingly in response to the bad karma that the supposed ex-girlfriend said would come his way, Smith sustains a broken leg – multiple fractures, according to her. As they often say, “karma’s a bitch.”

3. The $15 million libel suit Sheldon Adelson brought against him. JLS wrote a book published by Barricade Books in 2005 entitled, “Sharks in the Desert: The Founding Fathers and Current Kings of Las Vegas.” Adelson was a topic of discussion in the book. Adelson is one of the wealthiest men on the planet, worth billions. What Smith wrote about Adelson in the book was not truthful. Adelson didn’t like that. So he sued Smith and the book publisher for libel to the tune of $15 million. And it wasn’t about the money for Adelson. It was about Adelson wanting to set the record straight.

2. John L. Smith’s bankruptcy. As a result of that $15 million lawsuit, Smith declared bankruptcy. With the bankruptcy filings, we see the assets Smith had, as well as who he owed money to and ultimately stiffed.

And the number one awkward moment for Las Vegas Review-Journal columnist John L. Smith:

1. Finding out that the person who slapped him with a $15 million libel suit and one of the richest men in the world, Sheldon Adelson, just bought the newspaper where he works! Tick, tick, tick, Mr. Smith. How long do you figure you have to continue to be gainfully employed at the LVRJ knowing that your new boss once sued you into bankruptcy?!?! For LIBEL!!!! Not a comfortable position for a newspaperman like yourself to be in.

I read an interesting column today by John L. Smith in the LVRJ: Michael McDonald’s loan role looking more clear

I find it interesting because we’ve been down this road before, John and I. You’d think he would have learned by now.

Years ago, John’s daughter was fighting cancer. That’s tough. I wouldn’t wish having to deal with that on anybody. But John had a pretty decent net worth —more than $200,000 saved in retirement funds, some pricey real estate and a salary in the six figures. Not bad.

But instead of using those assets to pay for his daughter’s care, he ran to a charity designed to support really underprivileged families and their children fighting cancer and other life-threatening illnesses who had little to no money or assets. And when Smith got hit with a $15 million libel suit for publishing defamatory information about billionaire Sheldon Adelson in a book, he filed bankruptcy. And of the medical bills he actually owed related to his daughter’s cancer care, he stiffed them — didn’t pay.

So it’s interesting that John L. Smith is taking Michael McDonald to task for having “personally  benefitted” from a loan McDonald helped arrange from a children’s charity (Miracle Flights for Kids) while serving on the board of Med Lien Management — the organization that would receive the $2.2. million loan, according to Smith’s reporting. And afterwards, according to that reporting, McDonald received a $140,000 shareholder loan. By the way, Med Lien Management defaulted on repaying that loan, apparently still owing all of the principal as well as some interest.

Kind of ironic, isn’t it, that Smith, who used a charity for underprivileged families and who filed bankruptcy to avoid dealing with a huge libel case and his own daughter’s cancer care, would call out a guy like McDonald in his column for doing what he did.

It’s a tough act, to act all righteous about something like this, when you, yourself have benefitted from your own financial manipulation and charitable arrangements.

Well this is an interesting item:
Las Vegas Review-Journal parent company sold

Hmmm … I’m wondering if the CEO of New Media Investment Group Inc. knows about the shenanigans one of his “award-winning” and supposed top columnists, John L. Smith, has been up to?

The new group running the LVRJ and other newspapers around the country professes to have, to quote the AP story linked above, “… a strong community focus, solid readership base and stable advertisers …”.

If, Mr. Michael E. Reed, CEO of the group, you profess to have a strong community focus and stable advertisers, how do you justify hanging onto a guy like John L. Smith at the LVRJ? Have you had a look at the factual information brought to light about John L. Smith? Have you had a chance to check out all the documentation on this website about the $15 million libel suit brought against him, the DUI, the bankruptcy, and other various and sundry items?

Are you looking to take any sort of “realignment” measures (which always seems to happen in the aftermath of transactions like this) that might involve a certain LVRJ columnist known as John L. Smith? Who I’ve publicly branded as my DUI Guy?

How can you look past the moral turpitude quotient of a guy like this?

The reminders and parallels are everywhere you look. Take, for example, the recent incident of Brian Williams and the tale he’s been telling about his helicopter getting hit by a rocket-propelled grenade in Iraq in 2003. Except that it never happened. It wasn’t true. His helicopter never was in danger and was 30-minutes behind the helicopter that actually got hit. How do you “conflate” a story like that. (BTW, just to be clear, the definition of conflate is to combine two or more things – ideas, stories, events, etc. – into one.) But how do you conflate something when one of the things actually never happened? Anyway, moving on …

So what’s the parallel here? Integrity.

It’s all about representing the truth and earning the trust of citizens and the credibility as to who you are and the veracity of your stories. It’s stock-in-trade for journalists. If they misrepresent, if they “mis-remember,” if they report on something that actually never happened, they lose credibility, they lose everything.

Brian Williams lost credibility in a pretty big way by telling this tall tale of a harrowing experience of nearly being shot down, which actually never happened. John L. Smith lost credibility in a pretty big way by losing a $15 million libel suit after writing a book that included details about billionaire Sheldon Adelson that just weren’t true. And Adelson didn’t like that. So he sued Smith and the book publisher for libel. $15 million in libel. Enough to get a lot of people’s attention.

But while Williams is now off he air for a minimum of six months, suspended for his errors in fact, John L. Smith writes on and on and on. Watch how the Williams thing goes; already we’re seeing more tall tales from him bubbling up. Prediction: he’ll be gone the full 6 months and then some, and won’t return in the same role he had. In fact, I can’t imagine a scenario where he comes back to be the nightly voice of the NBC Nightly News. He’ll be a special reports or special projects guy, a diminished role for sure.

For those old enough to remember, imagine this kind of a story being pinned on the venerable Walter Cronkite over at CBS. He was a mainstay of millions of people’s evenings. The nation drew and exhaled its collective breath on the news he reported nightly. He was there to convey the terrible, tragic news about President John F. Kennedy’s assassination. There was no more respected face in journalism. Imagine him trying to cover his tracks over a story such as Brian Williams is trying to squirm away from. It would have been unthinkable.

How low have our standards gotten? Journalism used to be a respected profession. When you’re a “journalist” like John L. Smith claims to be, and you’re given a public pulpit to write commentary on a regular, frequent basis; and if you got convicted of a DUI, if you lost a $15 million libel suit, if you’ve been exposed for the kinds of shenanigans that have gone on in Smith’s life (just scroll through other posts in this blog to see what I’m talking about) you’d have been bounced on your butt out the door and had it slammed behind you.

Not so much anymore, right? Why does John L. Smith get the public platform he gets, influencing readers as he does by being given that opportunity to write opinion pieces? Why is he allowed to continue in his role? Shouldn’t he at least been suspended from his job for six months? Shouldn’t his editors have questioned whether or not a guy like him should be representing the newspaper? Shouldn’t the public be more aware of what’s gone on while he’s been in this highly influential role?

Just my opinion. But I’m betting a lot of others would whole-heartedly agree.