Covering Crime and Justice

[In this posting, I’m using bullet points to list the things that stood out for me.]

Chapter 1

- A good crime reporter must have: “exceptional initiative and determination, an eye for accuracy and details, a knack for sourcing, and the ability to tell a story.”

- The difference between small-town reporters and big-city ones is that the first one needs to have good relationships with sources, because he or she will deal with the very same sources all the time. Having a good relationship with certain people is highlighted many, many times. I feel that journalism on this level is pretty much about knowing the right person and being able to contact them any time.

- The public became fascinated with crime reports only two centuries ago. Why did this happen? Does this show some sort of shift in the society? Journalists started write “entertaining, impolite stories about pretty lawbreakers,” and the public loved them, because they featured sex, violence, blood and scandal.

- Felony: more than one year in prison; misdemeanor: less than one year in jail; violation: lesser offence

- Robbery: larceny involving violence; burglary: unlawfully entering someone’s property

- Crime reporters (and I guess this applies to all sorts of reporters as well) shouldn’t take editorial suggestions and criticism personally. Also, the document suggests how to have a good relationship w/ the editor adding, “Consider personal component and dress appropriately,” and, “Don’t whine!” Interesting. So no mini skirts and hysterical crying.

- Question: “The 1999 U.S. Supreme Court ruling limited access to private property for tag-along journalists.” Does this apply to us during the upcoming police-ride alongs?

- Wording is import, again. Someone is arrested “on suspicion of,” “in connection with” or simply “in” something. NOT “for.”

- Journalists are humans, too. So, it’s nice reading about crimes and stuff, but I guess crime reporting is not as easy as it seems. Personal and human factors are involved in this sort of job, as well. I’m a really sensitive person, and I think crime reporting would just wear me out totally. I’d get emotionally involved, which would make it so hard to concentrate on writing and accuracy. Also, the article mentions that many times journalists suffer from port-traumatic stress disorder…

- Personal safety. So, basically the trunk of my car needs to be transformed into some surviving supplement storage. Flashlight, water, food, bad-weather clothing, first-aid kit and… of course… extra pens and notebooks! It’s also important to wear the MEDIA sign on my clothing, except when it becomes rather dangerous by making me a target. How comforting…

- When dealing victims, journalists must be really sensitive. I knew this before, but I never thought that in such cases it’s acceptable to allow the source to read the story before it’s published, which is never-ever done in news business.

- Keeping the distance with the police in important. Journalists shouldn’t seem pro-police in order to get the information they want from police officers.

- I found a line that I think is so true. “We pretend to be interested in thing we really aren’t. We do what we need to do to wheedle information out of people.” And so many thins pretending makes me sick. Even though I’m taking acting classes, there is a big difference between theatrical acting and journalistic acting. In theater, acting is not about putting something ON, but it’s about letting something out of ourselves. In journalism, I think it’s just the opposite. We put on the mask of being interested, but we do because the deadlines are coming up and we need x hundred word about the frozen microbes on the North Pole.

- I like the 12 additional questions when reporting. I guess I’ll make my extra-dozen-q list!

- Corruption among police officers. Well, that was a kind of stunning part. I think it all comes down to power-relationships. Just like in Orwell’s Animal Farm, the ones with more power thing that they can do whatever they want. And this is sad.

- I don’t want to be arrested for doing my job!!


Chapter 5

- Victims: people who are affected by a crime, which includes family members, too. I think in case of 9/11, we can say that every American was a victim.

- High-, medium- and low-risk victims. A woman traveling alone at night is a high-risk victim. Why?! Isn’t the problem with the society? Just because it’s dark outside and I happen to be a woman, I become likely to be raped?

- Being sensitive. I like all the methods described in the article when it comes to interviewing victims. For example, standing apart from the crowd of journalists, and just handing a business card with a note on it. I think this is a really gentle way of approaching a victim. Also, triple-checking names and dates!

- Rape. I think this is the worst of all crimes. The article says that more than 350,000 people are raped each year. That means 3,500,000 in a decade. More than 1% of the U.S. population! Another stunning number: 84% of rape victims don’t report the crime to the police.


Chapter 7

- I felt so lost!

- Okay, so there are two court systems: federal and state. Within each, there are 3 levels: trial court, intermediate appeals and final appeals. The first is where the entire trail procedure is with a judgment at the end. The second only inspects the first one if all the procedures were lawful. And the final appeals level is the “supreme” court, which can change the judgment made by the court trial.

- A good court reporter is “part historian, part critic, part transcriber, part observer—and always a good listener, accurate note taker and critical thinker.” Anything else?!

- Trials are like a sports events. “Hey yo, I got tix for the O.J. game tonight. Wanna come?”

- Making friends with court people is important. The list is not that long: docket clerks, court clerks, court reporters (even though these guys don’t think just record information), law clerks, bailiffs and administrations people. And of course lawyers and the members of the jury. But with lawyers, journalists must be skeptical, because they are cunning!

- Journalists have access to every document. The only problem is that I’d get so confused by a huge pile of files. So… do court reporters sleep at all? If I had to go through lots and lots of papers, I wouldn’t…