An experienced reporter was murdered in front of his house. Now his newspaper is to cover the trial of the alleged murderer

new York
CNN
—

As opening arguments began in the Robert Telles murder trial last week, the Las Vegas Review-Journal was confronted with a nightmarish question: How does a newspaper cover the trial of a suspect accused of murdering one of its own reporters?

That once-unimaginable prospect has been faced by the newspaper and its staff for nearly two years after Telles, a 47-year-old former Clark County public administrator, was arrested and charged in the fatal stabbing of Review-Journal investigative reporter Jeff German. The veteran journalist's shocking death came after the reporter spent months covering the unrest and harassment allegations in Telles' office. Telles has maintained his innocence and faces up to life in prison if convicted.

Tragedy and grief are nothing new to newsrooms. Journalists are sent to war zones, interview victims and people accused of gruesome crimes, and face threats. But while most newsrooms face their own challenges, objectively reporting on the murder of a colleague in a newspaper's own backyard is a tall order for even the most seasoned professionals. For the Review-Journal, however, this balancing act has become the norm over the past two years.

“Jeff's research uncovered a boss who was accused of bullying and retaliation, fostering a hostile work environment and an inappropriate relationship with a colleague,” Rhonda Prast, a former Review-Journal editor who led the investigative team's ongoing investigation into German's death, said at the Investigative Reporters & Editors conference last year.

Following German's reporting, Telles lost the Democratic primary, ending his term. After the election, Telles posted an angry letter on his website attacking the Review-Journal and its reporting, and denying the allegations in German's reporting.

After German's body was discovered in front of his house, Review-Journal reporters, still shaken by the gruesome crime, immediately launched a reporting offensive to find his killer and finish his job.

Reporters and editors studied German's account in hopes of finding out who was responsible for the attack. They soon identified a car that had been spotted at the scene and linked it to Telles, who was later arrested and charged with murder.

“In these first days [investigative] The team never stopped. We had to track down Jeff's sources because he wasn't sharing this information,” Prast said. “Some of it we found out through his emails. I found one person in Jeff's email trash. Briana [Erickson] and art [Kane] I researched sources and worked with stacks of printouts that Jeff had at home.”

Briana Erickson, a former investigative reporter for the Review-Journal, sought to continue what German began with her own research, tracing the chapters of Telles' life by looking at “a decade of toxic and bullying behavior that never alerted the institutions that could have held him accountable,” she said at the IRE conference.

The newspaper dug into Telles' past, obtained 911 calls from Telles' ex-wife and uncovered video of his arrest years ago for domestic violence.

While the Review-Journal covered German's murder, the newspaper attempted to protect the late reporter's privacy and sources. During the police investigation, authorities seized German's phone, four computers and an external hard drive from his home.

“We desperately want justice for Jeff. But his many confidential sources for stories MUST be protected,” said Keith Moyer, the Review-Journal's publisher and editor, in a social media post.

While the Nevada Supreme Court upheld a law that protects journalists from having to reveal their sources, the Review-Journal ultimately provided “most of the data” from German's phone to prosecutors, defense attorneys and law enforcement in May.

In the week before Telles' trial, the Review-Journal published several news articles focusing on the trial and German's career. In articles written by investigative editor Arthur Kane and court reporter Katelyn Newberg, the paper portrayed German as a fearless investigative journalist who deftly maneuvered through the organized crime figures in Sin City and was dedicated to his work. The Review-Journal also set up a “Remembering Jeff German” memorial on its website, which includes all stories about the slain reporter since his death in 2022.

When the trial's opening arguments began, the Review-Journal reported on it prominently on the newspaper's front page and offered a live stream of the trial on its website.

German's reporting also played a major role in the trial. Telles's lawyer praised the late journalist as a “good reporter” who would “ultimately find out the truth” and suggested that others might want him dead. And Telles admitted that he lied to German when he denied an inappropriate relationship.

While journalists often cover tragedies, when the killing of a colleague is a murder, the task is even more complicated, says Katherine Jacobsen, who covers the United States, Canada and the Caribbean for the Committee to Protect Journalists.

“But I think journalists are really good at putting on their reporter hat and, for better or worse, processing things later and reporting first,” Jacobsen told CNN. “I respect the kind of [sober] Approach of editorial offices such as the Las Vegas Review-Journal […] when it comes to dealing with such difficult issues.”

The Review-Journal declined to comment for this article, citing litigation.

“Until then, we'll let our reporting speak for itself,” said Glenn Cook, editor in chief and senior vice president of news at the Review-Journal.

While Telles' fate will be decided by a jury, the paper's editorial board joins a number of other newsrooms forced to report on traumas affecting their own staff. Fourteen journalists have been killed in the U.S. since 1992, most recently a television reporter who was shot dead in Florida last year while covering an earlier shooting, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

In recent months, The Wall Street Journal launched a public pressure campaign to demand the release of reporter Evan Gershkovich, who was wrongfully imprisoned in Russia for 491 days. While Gershkovich sat behind bars, his colleagues at home did not give up hope, covering his imprisonment on the front page, holding reading marathons, global runs and social media storms to raise awareness of their colleague's plight.

In 2018, the Washington Post launched a similar reporting offensive during the disappearance and murder of Saudi journalist and columnist Jamal Khashoggi. When Khashoggi was still missing, the Post published several articles about the circumstances of the reporter's disappearance and later played a key role in uncovering the facts surrounding the journalist's murder.

And as the war between Israel and Hamas rages on, at least nine journalists from the Al Jazeera television network have been killed in the fierce fighting. The Qatar-funded broadcaster did not shy away from condemning the killing of its reporters and photographers, and in sharp statements blamed the Israeli military.

Because of the nature of their work, journalists are often tasked with covering the deaths of their own colleagues in the same way they would cover other everyday events in their community – a particularly daunting and emotional task.

“The person best suited to report on this is the victim — Jeff,” said John Katsilometes, a Review-Journal columnist, after German's death. “He would be the person we would turn to in a situation like this.”