Locals play catch-up: Las Vegas newspaper slams Alicia Jacobs for her "reverse bias" in reporting the Danny Gans death case

"I've proven I have ethics,
that I'm a solid reporter
and have never misled viewers.
And I have integrity, which is everything.”

--Danny Gans' close friend, TV reporter Alicia Jacobs

Maybe we’re not crazy for covering the Danny Gans death mystery, after all. The day after the New York Times features the story at the top of its National section, the Las Vegas Review-Journal is starting to catch up. Eighteen days after we brought up the questionable relationship and conflicts of interest involving beauty queen-turned-reporter Alicia Jacobs, the Las Vegas Review-Journal newspaper has sicced a reporter to take a hard look at her questionable actions over the past few weeks.

In the column "Jacobs’ visibility triggers questions of perception," reporter Steve Bornfeld writes that “KVBC-TV, Channel 3 entertainment correspondent Alicia Jacobs has leapt from mere reporter to marquee attraction recently:

“In February, she toted a puppy to Danny Gans' Encore opening, a controversy climaxing when Bonnie Hunt dissed her on her daytime show. Then the Holly Madison Hoo-Ha… L'Affair Prejean… (and) finally, her closeness to Gans drew her into the story of his tragic death as family friend and source speculating on his health.”

Bornfeld quotes an ivory-tower Sig Gissler ethics type who criticize Jacobs’ spotlight-seeking tendencies, and himself mentions her “frequent bold-face mentions in Norm Clarke's R-J column.


Alicia Jacobs, we pointed out on May 3rd, was the first media figure to be informed of Gans’ death. Gans’ manager Chip Lightman phoned her at four a.m. (according to her and Lightman’s accounts), minutes after paramedics pronounced Gans dead in his home in a Las Vegas suburb. Jacobs spoke openly about her long friendship with Gans, but in the days and weeks to follow, began to orchestrate the coverage, generate the mythmaking. And in the case of her executive producer’s “husband,” was connected with an effort to stop this news organization’s investigation.

"There's a difference between
professional relationships
and personal friendships,
especially one as strongly and
publicly evident as Jacobs and Gans.
...It creates an appearance
of potential bias --
viewers/readers wondering if
a reporter-friend would conceal
unflattering or damaging information."

-- Las Vegas Review-Journal

Most disturbing was the fact that hours after she told Tabloid Baby in an exclusive interview that she had no idea what could have caused Gans' untimely death, she and Lightman went to columnist Norm Clarke to claim they knew he had high blood pressure and a family history of heart trouble.

Writes Bornfeld:

“Bias-in-reverse issues do likewise with Gans stories.

“'Don't I have a chance to do that story before I'm judged?’ Jacobs asks about any post-autopsy follow-ups. ‘Don't I deserve that opportunity?’

“Absolutely. But that misses the point. This isn't necessarily about the reality of the coverage by the end, but the skepticism viewers could bring going in.

“Reporters cultivate connections with sources that require a casual cordiality, but there's a difference between professional relationships and personal friendships, especially one as strongly and publicly evident as Jacobs and Gans. Many news outlets discourage it not because it's a guarantee of biased coverage, but because it creates an appearance of potential bias -- viewers/readers wondering if a reporter-friend would conceal unflattering or damaging information. What a shame to sow doubts over reporting that turns out perfectly balanced.

"'I've proven I have ethics, that I'm a solid reporter and have never misled viewers,’ Jacobs says. ‘And I have integrity, which is everything.’

“Jacobs' journalistic ethics and integrity are not questioned here. Her judgment is.”

Perhaps those among the Las Vegas media who called us “insane” or “crazy” for covering the Gans mystery while everyone else waits patiently—for weeks now— for a coroner’s toxicology report that will pass through many hands before reaching the public—will admit that maybe the Tabloid Baby team isn’t insane after all, but perhaps just quicker. Less lazy. With less concern for politesse. And fewer conflicts of interest.

Review-Journal editor Tom Mitchell blogged of his pride in the LVRJ coverage in the 48 hours following Gans’ death. He must have had second thoughts after seeing a comparison of his paper’s own scant bordering-on-coverup coverage with the work of hungry tabloid journos who know a great story when they see one.

Danny Gans' final golfing partner was one of many evangelist pastors surrounding the Born Again Christian whose father was a Jew

With whom was Danny Gans golfing
on the day he died?

The story that the Las Vegas superstar was "down in the dumps the day he died"-- but not suicidal-- was the most significant of three stories reported by the Las Vegas Review-Journal on Thursday, the morning after TabloidBaby.com reported that the paper's editors were deliberately not publishing what they and their reporters knew about the sudden death of the musical impressionist at age 52.

Mike Weatherford's column identified Gans' golfing partner as "David Graham, a personal pastor and golf buddy to the late impressionist", "a former golf pro who founded Christian City Church on Las Vegas Boulevard."

Graham, as it turns out has been a Gans pal for years, and popped up on the links with Gans in a 2002 LA Times profile of Gans by Paul Brownfield.

Graham's bio appears not on the church site, but one for David M. Graham Ministries, Inc.:

"Prior to turning his life over to God, Graham was a successful business man owning a construction company with offices in several U.S. Cities as well as being a Professional Golfer on the PGA tour.

"After turning his life over to God Dr. Graham was on fire, earning a Bachelors Degree from Beulah University and both a Masters Degree and a PhD from Vision International. He is currently working on an MDiv degree from Southwestern University.

"Dr. Graham and his wife Melinda started an Over Comers Ministry in Georgia to help people with drug and alcohol addictions. The ministry became successful that members of the law Enforcement community would refer people to the ministry. The Over Comers Ministry is still going strong today.

"In 1999, Dr. Graham followed the call of God and packed up his wife and their daughter and moved to Las Vegas, Nevada. In 2000 Dr. Graham founded and became the Senior Pastor of Christian City Church Las Vegas. After being open for just over 2 years, the church was recognized by both City and State Official's for it rapid growth and work in the community.

"In 2007 Dr. Graham made a decision once again to follow the call that God had on his life and concentrate on Evangelism and teaching."

With evangelist Benny Perez of the Church at South Las Vegas and Rev. Gary Morefield of Green Valley Christian Center (who led a prayer meeting with Gans' band the day he died), Graham is the third man to be identified by local news media as "Gans' pastor."

According to Paul Brownfield's article, Gans' father, former Catskills drummer and comedian Sid Gans, was a Jew:

"Sid Gans can tell you the name of the player who stepped on his son's Achille's heel, ending his baseball career.

It was in the hospital after that incident that Danny Gans says he met a man in the next bed who... told Gans that 'God has another plan for you.'

"Since then, Gans has rededicated himself to the Lord. He calls himself a devout Christian, and forms a prayer circle with his band before each performance.

"Sid Gans is Jewish. He says he's happy that his son found spiritual guidance, but he isn't interested. 'They're pushin' me with the church business,' Sid Gans said of his family. 'Every two months I'd go to the church with them and I'd sit there aggravated.'"

TabloidBaby.com has learned that Mike Weatherford's column, which revealed that Gans was out playing golf on his final day, had been written more than a week before it was published into the paper's entertainment guide as opposed to being rushed into the "news hole" (the story's significance was demonstrated by its pickup by news outlets around the world).