Norm Clarke is an American

gossip columnist A gossip columnist is someone who writes a gossip column in a newspaper or magazine, especially a gossip magazine. Gossip columns are material written in a light, informal style, which relates the gossip columnist's opinions about the personal l ...

Las Vegas, Nevada Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vega ...

. He wrote the column "Vegas Confidential" for the ''

Las Vegas Review-Journal The ''Las Vegas Review-Journal'' is a daily subscription newspaper published in Las Vegas, Nevada, since 1909. It is the largest circulating daily newspaper in Nevada and one of two daily newspapers in the Las Vegas area. The ''Review-Journal'' ...

'' from 1999 to 2016. He publishes the website Norm Clarke's Vegas Diary.

Career

Clarke began in the

newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, spor ...

business by covering sports for the Montana newspaper ''Terry Tribune.'' He moved on to newspaper jobs in Miles City,

Helena Helena may refer to: People *Helena (given name), a given name (including a list of people and characters with the name) *Katri Helena (born 1945), Finnish singer *Helena, mother of Constantine I Places Greece * Helena (island) Guyana * H ...

and

Billings Billings is the largest city in the U.S. state of Montana, with a population of 117,116 as of the 2020 census. Located in the south-central portion of the state, it is the seat of Yellowstone County and the principal city of the Billings Metro ...

, Montana. In 1973 he went to work for the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. new ...

Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line w ...

. While there, he covered the

Beverly Hills Supper Club fire The Beverly Hills Supper Club fire in Southgate, Kentucky, is the seventh deadliest nightclub fire in history. It occurred on the night of May 28, 1977, during the Memorial Day holiday weekend. A total of 165 people died and more than 200 were i ...

in neighboring

Southgate, Kentucky Southgate is a home rule-class city in Campbell County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 3,803 at the 2010 census. History The city of Southgate is named for the family of Richard Southgate. Born in New York City, Richard Southgat ...

, where 165 people perished. His work in covering the collapse of a 1978

nuclear power Nuclear power is the use of nuclear reactions to produce electricity. Nuclear power can be obtained from nuclear fission, nuclear decay and nuclear fusion reactions. Presently, the vast majority of electricity from nuclear power is produced b ...

plant cooling tower in

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the ...

, in which 66 construction workers died, earned Clarke and his colleagues a

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made ...

nomination. He later transferred to

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United Stat ...

and then

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

, where he coordinated AP's coverage of the

1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the sec ...

. Clarke next went to the '' Denver Rocky Mountain News'' to work as a sports writer, eventually covering the

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (A ...

team the

Colorado Rockies The Colorado Rockies are an American professional baseball team based in Denver. The Rockies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. The team plays its home baseball games at Coors Fi ...

. In 1996, he switched to writing a "man about town" column that would become the prototype for his Las Vegas column. In 1999, Clarke joined the Las Vegas Review-Journal as the man-about-town columnist. Clarke has written four books: * ''Tracing Terry Trails,'' a collection of historical happenings in Prairie County, Montana. Published in 1982 for the Terry, Montana centennial celebration.
''High Hard Ones''
Denver’s Road to the Rockies, from Inside the Newspaper War, i
available as an e-book
a
Norm.Vegas
*
Vegas Confidential: Norm Clarke! Sin City's Ace Insider
1,000 Naked Truths,'' published by Stephens Press (). The book is a compilation of material from old columns, plus a great deal of new material. In the book, Clarke lists (among other things) the ten worst tippers in Las Vegas. *
Norm Clarke's Vegas Confidential: Sinsational Celebrity Tales
'' also published by Stephens Press (). In the book, Clarke offers remembrances of

celebrities Celebrity is a condition of fame and broad public recognition of a person or group as a result of the attention given to them by mass media. An individual may attain a celebrity status from having great wealth, their participation in sports ...

who live in, or visit Las Vegas He publishes the website Norm Clarke's Vegas Diary, which covers Las Vegas news, celebrity sightings, history, and human-interest stories.

References

External links

Norm Clarke's Vegas DiaryWhat happens in Vegas, Norm Clarke knows
Columbia Journalism Review March 19, 2017
Norm Clarke’s career was ‘an ongoing love letter’ to Las Vegas
Rachel Crosby Las Vegas Review-Journal July 27, 2016
Clarke's keynote address to

Society of Professional Journalists The Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), formerly known as Sigma Delta Chi, is the oldest organization representing journalists in the United States. It was established on April 17, 1909, at DePauw University,2009 SPJ Annual Report, letter ...

(

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

website, QuickTime) {{DEFAULTSORT:Clarke, Norm 1942 births Living people American columnists American newspaper reporters and correspondents People from the Las Vegas Valley People from Prairie County, Montana Writers from Montana Writers from Nevada Associated Press reporters Rocky Mountain News people Journalists from Montana