Miscellaneous

So You Want to Cover the Courts?

By Anne Skove, Esq.

From the Fray to bloggers, everyone is commenting on what a good Supreme Court reporter should be.

Frankly, we're less worried about how the media fails the SCOTUS than we are about everyday reporter doofishness.

We have a past with reporters who cover the courts. The bad ones made us tear our hair out (we would have torn out theirs but that's hard to do over the phone).

Here's a list of pet peeves/don'ts from our rotten reporter file:

• Make sources take sides. This goes for ideology (not everyone is in a position to comment on everything), but it can happen on an individual level, too. One place we'd prefer not to be again is in the midst of a fight between a legal reporter and the court PIO (or anyone, really). Bringing new people into your own political tent or personal spats is not cool, even if it might make for good drama.


• Not doing basic homework, fercryinoutloud! If you're writing a story about drug courts, for example, have SOME idea what they are. Know the PIO in your jurisdiction. Know what time zone you're calling.


• Uncooperativeness. Sheesh!


• Not knowing who you just called. This inevitably leads to asking the wrong questions and sounding like a complete yarnhead. Plus, if you've got a list of 100 contacts and can't keep them straight, why should number 16 on your list even bother with you?


• Have the story written already. Sounds so productive! But when the story is near completion, that leaves no room for new (possibly more correct) facts, listening (see below), or, heaven forbid, being completely wrong.


• Despise boredom. Think the courts are exciting? Bzzt! Be prepared to be bored! Night court is nothing like the sitcom. Drug court is no reality show. Unless you're Jerry Springer, don't add bells and whistles that don't fit and may even do harm. Excitement does not equal importance.

The good ones (you know who you are!!!) are an absolute delight and we miss them terribly. They are truly the sweetest of peas!!!

From them, a to-do list for reporters:

• Be nice. This costs you nothing in credibility or time, and gets you everything in terms of assistance and reputation.


• Be smart. Know the local legal culture. Know some basic terms and procedures. Our favorite reporters know that everyone has a deadline. No lie: we had to explain the difference between state and federal courts to a reporter at a well-known national publication. On the other hand, a paper with a not-so-smart reputation rose in our esteem after we spoke with a reporter who had read the opinion about which he was inquiring and could carry on an interesting conversation about it!


• Listen! One of the best reporters ever just sat back (if he hadn't written such a good piece later, we'd have sworn he fell asleep) and listened to us yak on about an issue.


• Learn! Things are sometimes not what you'd expect. There are not national statistics on every single type of court event. There are questions without answers. We will personally explain this to your editors if they don't believe us!


• Give up. Sure, that's against your very fiber, but if there's no story, there's no story. Better luck next week.


• Take your time. This is a luxury, but if you have a week or more you are instantly a darling.


• Ask intelligent questions. Not doofy ones!

So good luck to Liptak and Lithwick, but better luck to the grunts covering the lower courts. The general public has far more experience with traffic, small claims, and family court than they will with lethal injection: this is where the real battles are.

There's a lawyer in the hall of domestic relations court who wears cowboy boots so his clients, mostly battered women with small children, can identify him. There's a judge who initiated a problem-solving court because he could not save his own family members from addiction. There's a student legal clinic who helped a veteran with his commitment hearing. There's a local volunteer mediator taking foreclosure cases. What are their stories?

Full post as published by court-o-rama.org on April 16, 2008 (boomark / email).