Former Las Vegas Politician Found Guilty of Murdering Journalist
It's rare for a reporter to be murdered in America. But the threats to journalism are still very real.
Jeff German was a Las Vegas reporter exposing a toxic workplace in one of the city’s offices.
In May 2022, German wrote a piece for the Las Vegas Review-Journal titled “County office in turmoil with secret video and claims of bullying, hostility.”
Workers in the office pointed the finger at Robert Telles, the elected official running the department that dealt with estates of people who died without heirs. The workers suspected him of having a relationship with another employee. German wrote that the office “has been mired in turmoil and internal dissension over the past two years, with allegations of emotional stress, bullying and favoritism.”
Four months later, German was stabbed to death outside of his home in the middle of the day.
Telles was arrested afterwards and charged with murder.
At the trial this week, prosecutors said that Telles had just learned that his former colleagues had handed over to German email and text messages between Telles and the woman they suspected he was having a relationship with.
Telles "did it because Jeff wasn't done writing," prosecutor Christopher Hamner said during closing arguments. "It's like connecting the dots."
Telles has maintained his innocence. He spoke at the trial this week for hours. His team suggested he was being framed or that someone else was responsible; none of German’s blood had been found on any item connected to Telles or in the elected official’s car. But prosecutors said they found Telles’s DNA underneath the reporter’s fingernails.
On Wednesday, a Clark County jury agreed with the prosecutors and found Telles guilty of first degree murder. He was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 20 years.
Glenn Cook, the executive editor of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, said this was a “premeditated revenge killing with terrifying savagery,” according to The Guardian.
“Today also brought a measure of justice for slain journalists all over the world,” Cook added. “Our jobs are increasingly risky and sometimes dangerous. In many countries, the killers of journalists go unpunished. Not so in Las Vegas.”
German was the only journalist killed in America in 2022, according to The Committee to Protect Journalists, an organization that tracks the threat to the profession and its people around the world.
17 journalists have been killed in the United States since 1992, according to CPJ. The organization also works to identify a motive for each incident.
In America, as the Review-Journal’s editor pointed out, physical danger to journalists isn’t as great as it is in other countries. Still, the profession and its people are at risk from other forces.
Press Freedom is Falling
According to RSF Reporters Without Borders, the United States ranks 55 in the world when it comes to press freedom, falling just behind Chile, Ivory Coast, and Belize.
“After a sharp increase in 2020, freedom of the press violations have fallen significantly in the United States, but major structural barriers to press freedom persist in this country, once considered a model for freedom of expression,” their editors write.
RSF points to the political climate as one of the causes. Former President Trump and his administration had publicly denigrated journalism and the media. While they say Biden holds it up as a pillar of American ideals, “many of the chronic, underlying issues affecting journalists remain unaddressed, and Biden himself has come under criticism for failing to press US partners like Israel and Saudi Arabia on press freedom.”
But another cause for the fall in ranking? The industry landscape where “media ownership is highly concentrated, and many of the companies buying American media outlets appear to prioritize profits over public interest journalism.” They go on to say that this has threatened local journalism, increased partisanship, and eroded public trust.
“Major structural barriers to press freedom persist in this country, once considered a model for freedom of expression.”
In an article from earlier this year, Sarah Jones writes for NY Mag’s Intelligencer: “Billionaires Are Journalism’s False Saviors.”
She chronicles rounds of layoffs across the industry:
On Tuesday, the Los Angeles Times announced that it would lay off at least 115 journalists, 20 percent of the newsroom. The cuts would have been larger were it not for the newspaper’s union, which fought back and walked out of the office for one day last week in protest. The cuts follow a previous round of layoffs last June, meaning the Times has lost around one-third of its staff in under a year. The same day, Time announced cuts of its own. Condé Nast was already on the way to cutting 5 percent of its workforce when also on Tuesday, members of the company’s union walked out after the company proposed significant layoffs and downsized its original severance offer. Earlier, Univision announced significant cuts and the company that owns Sports Illustrated laid off most, perhaps all, unionized staff, which could kill the storied magazine. The Washington Post slashed its newsroom late last year. Journalism’s fate was never assured, but now it looks bleaker every year.
Jones explains that there’s no “morality to the logic” of billionaires buying up news organizations:
“Their goals, then, are at odds with the purpose of journalism. Media workers can’t serve the public if there are no opportunities for them to do so. By cutting jobs in journalism, the ruling class cedes ground to the rabid right-wing media — whose benefactors are committed to an ideological project. The prospect of an emboldened right wing and a corresponding reduction in reputable news sources does not trouble them nearly as much as the loss of profit.”
And she ends on a bleak note: “A billionaire can survive a news desert. The rest of us won’t.”
What can we do about it?
Many media experts point to local news as the backbone of the American journalism industry. With reporters covering people in their community, there are fewer opportunities to let things slide; and those stories that bubble up into national issues won’t go unmissed.
But, as we’ve seen, the financial model often doesn’t make sense to keep the lights on in these newsrooms.
Rebuild Local News, an organization focused on these efforts, points to public policy as a potential solution.
They frame local journalism as “a public good” – “a service that may not always be profitable but has great importance to a community. Think elementary schools, hospitals and libraries.”
With government stepping in, (they argue that there’s historical precedent for this) they’d be able to keep the industry afloat without impeding journalists from covering stories how they should be. They prescribe guidelines for legislation:
Be content-neutral, nonpartisan, and ensure editorial independence.
Be future-friendly, potentially helping both existing local players and innovators.
Be platform-neutral. Help local news organizations develop sustainable models.
Especially help locally-grounded, diverse or nonprofit media.
Result in communities having more local reporters.
Rebuild Local News estimates that the plan could bring in $3-5 billion, mostly through tax credits. “Of course, not all support would be used to hire or retain journalists but if a meaningful fraction was, local news would be transformed. The number of local reporters would likely double. Most local news deserts would be eliminated resulting in a local news system more geared to serving communities.”
The question is not if this could help, but if it could happen.
The rhetoric in America is increasingly partisan at all levels; journalism is seen as a divisive line; there’s eroding trust in the legacy institutions and a heavy reliance on social media for the transmission of news and “expert” analysis.
If we want a better America with a robust journalism force, we need politicians to bridge a divide and coalesce around this pillar of American democracy, rather than denigrate it.