MYRAM BORDERS

Myram was interviewed on February 9, 2000.

Las Vegas is schizophrenic. It changes image deliberately, and in positive ways. It=s best to be thought of as on the right side of the law and doing things correctly and not be doubted every time you want to borrow money from a major insurance company or something. The media play into it. They help it along, because they parrot what they=re told in most cases. I=m sure many will take issue with that, but if they look at themselves closely, they=ll find that they don=t have the time, they don=t have the staff.  The city is much larger now. They don=t have the sources to dig to the bottom of anything. The way they dig to the bottom of stuff is somebody leaking something to them who has an axe to grind. That=s the only reason you get leaks and I=m not sure the media realize that. The only time anybody leaks anything to you is not because they think the world ought to know, it=s because they have a story they want to get out, they don=t want to be identified, and they have a hidden agenda. That=s what a leak is. If the media don=t recognize what a leak is, then they=re just parroting things. You don=t know who said what, other than Aa source,@ which I think is rather unethical.

The media, then, is part of the establishment.  It permeates the entire profession. I mean, in reality, the media is common Joe walking down the street. That=s how they claim First Amendment rights. That=s what they should be, but in reality, they=re out playing golf with presidents of hotels, or presidents of the United States. Joe walking down the street doesn=t do that. When you start doing that, you are part of the establishment.

In Las Vegas, the media don=t seem to pull together on the important issues. They yell and scream individually, but they don=t seem to band together in an attempt to have a really strong effect. In their desire to be competitive, it=s almost like AThe Boys On the Bus.@  Everybody wants to have the same story instead of going after some individual research. To me, that=s not competitive. Competitive is breaking stories that nobody else has and it=s not murders and traffic fatalities.

The print media, on occasion, do make an effort to inform the public in depth. When they do make that effort, it=s very difficult if they=re after something that the establishment does not wish to discuss, because so many doors have been shut to the media. If you were to compare the number of news reporters in Las Vegas to the number of, quote, APublic Relations@ people in Las Vegas, I imagine it would be quite astounding. I don=t know what the odds are, but I bet there=s 25 PR people to one news reporter and all those PR people are there putting spins on things. You as the news reporter are trying to get through the maze. If you=re after something somebody doesn=t wish you to find, it=s pretty difficult unless you=ve got some sort of inside source who=s ulterior motive hopefully isn=t too treacherous. If you try to walk in the front door and get information you=re going to run into spin doctors.