Courts and Police - Blog #8

Today’s discussion was about courts and the police. These two areas are really interesting and they separate the good from the bad reporters earlier in every journalist’s career. I have covered many stories during my internship in Florida.

The best advice I ever received about covering the cop beat was from an editor that introduced me to the police scanner. My desk has five pages single-spaced with the call letters and call signs for all types of reports. My mentor told me that what the cop or firemen are saying over the radio is not really important, our job as reporters is to listen to the tone of the voice of the person speaking and that is the best indication of a story.

Even over the spotty, crackling radio that gave me headaches every day I was able to a most time hear when something big was going on and what was routine without even looking at the call sheets.

One thing I regret never finding out more about was that the police in Panama City are constantly saying “meet me at Dairy Queen” over the radio. At first I did not really pay attention until I heard how frequent they were saying it. As time went on and I became more familiar with Panama City I never saw a single Dairy Queen. I asked everyone at the newspaper if they knew of any Dairy Queens in the area or if they knew the pseudonym for the Dairy Queen. No one was able to tell me anything more than it being slang used by the police.

Accuracy and fairness are extremely important to the majority of police officers. Even when I was covering sensitive stories of a police chief drinking on the job all the cops under him were very open as long as I was fair. There were a series of stories so the more the cops were able to see that there was no hidden agenda to drive out the police chief they became very receptive and giving with their information.

One way, other than writing great and accurate stories, to gain some support within a department that is difficult to crack is to write essentially a buff piece on something that they are doing. Find out about any softball games they have, any mentoring they are doing, what charities they are supporting or any competitions they are in. This helps get reporters in a different environment to meet sources without having to ask them tough questions or questions they might not know the answer too. The story will build some trust and help the reporter get noticed by the right people.

The other topic of covering courts is important for young-reporters are to cultivate good sources inside and outside the newsroom. Get a seasoned reporter to take you down to the courthouse and introduce you to all the secretaries, court reporters, judges and lawyers. This is an instant in for most reporters.

Court documents are great sources of information since every time a crime is committed a new file is started or a footnote is added onto an existing file. Looking at the arraignments for the day can tell the reporter information like who was arrest for what, are arrests increasing or decreasing and what the most common arrest are.

We also read an investigative story from the Chicago Tribune about how reporters can effect change in the world. This moving series is about how the justice system is full of unsavory people that were getting away with heinous treatment without being noticed. Most people believe that the courts are noble and the reporters were able to shine light on the situation and enact change, which is something every reporters wishes to accomplish with their career.