Strange Bedfellows in a Strange Land

By Gordon Hopkins They say politics makes for strange bedfellows.That well-known saying actually paraphrases a quote from an obscure little writer you may have heard of called William Shakespeare. In his play, “The Tempest,” Ole' Shakey wrote, “Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows.”The same could be said for journalism.As a journalist myself, I have naturally been following with considerable interest the case of the murder of Jeff German, investigative reporter for the Las Vegas Review-Journal. He was found stabbed to death outside his own home on September 3, 2022. Though the murder of journalists, in this country at least, is still pretty rare, German spent decades taking on organized crime and political corruption. When you get into this business, such an end is always in the cards.The suspect arrested for German's murder was Robert Telles, not a mob boss or powerful politico but a bottom-tier public official that lost his last election thanks in no small part to German's reporting.Telles has decided to represent himself in court, all but guaranteeing a sideshow of a trial. Forget Tom Jones and Cirque du Soleil. This will be the biggest show in Vegas this year.While any murder trial is a difficult matter, the murder of a journalist brings a special level of complexity.The court hearings have involved the prosecution and the defense, as these things usually due, but there is a third party with a vested interest in the court proceedings: The Las Vegas Review-Journal.Unsurprisingly, those investigating German's murder want access to the deceased's electronic devices; computers phones, etc. Standard operating procedure in a homicide case, one expects. Except, the Las Vegas Review-Journal argues those devices likely contain information about German's sources. Research materials, notes, drafts of possible future stories are almost certainly on those devices, including clues as to the identities of sources who only agreed to talk to German with the promise of anonymity.Protecting sources has to be a priority for journalists, as anyone who's ever seen any movie or TV show about the newspaper biz knows. Reporters can't get sources to talk to them if their identities can't be protected. It has been the subject not just of countless journalism-themed shows but a great many court cases as well. Newspapers have fought tooth-and-nail to protect their right to keep their sources secret, and with good reason. The Watergate investigation would have gone very differently if Mark Felt (the FBI man who was “Deep Throat”) wasn't assured Bob Woodward would not reveal his identity.Yet, those devices could very well contain info relevant to German's murder. That is where the “strange bedfellows” I wrote about earlier in this column come into play. Robert Telles, the man accused of murdering German, and the Las Vegas Review-Journal, German's employer, have agreed to the appointment of “Special Masters” to screen the information on German's devices and determine what can and can't be disclosed in court.The court fight over the specific protocols is still going on.There is little, if any, legal precedent for this kind of thing. That makes not just the outcome of the trial, guilt or innocence, but how we get there, incredibly important. Journalists across this country will be watching.

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