15 minutes redux

[khaosworks]

Name in the papers, although they wrongly promoted me. I'm just a Magistrate, not a District Judge.

Comments

[swisscheesed.livejournal.com]

Bad journalist (and editor too.) You should call the paper.

I mean, it would have taken only one phone call to find out your correct title. This is just laziness on the part of the reporter.

[khaosworks.livejournal.com]

They've been doing this for years. I used to know the reporters on the crime beat pretty well as a Prosecutor and they at least got it right when I first went to the trial courts, but there's a whole new generation of reporters out there I don't know and can't really get to know because of my position.

[swisscheesed.livejournal.com]

No excuse for them. This is Reporting 101 stuff.

better to light a candle ...

[pickledginger.livejournal.com]

That sort of shoddy reportage is all-too-common ... but still is inexcusable. Definitely, complain to the paper about any and all inaccuracies - otherwise, they'll never get it right.

But enough of cursing the darkness ...

Meanwhile, even if you, personally, don't feel you can do much outreach in your current position, that doesn't mean there's nothing that can be done.

The jurists in my area have formed a court-media subcommittee (inviting journalists, who by joining in get lots of prestige and unpaid work). The group has occasional cocktail parties where judges et al. mingle with the higher-ups in the local news media, but also puts together handouts for the tv and papers and such, with such vital info as *correct* names of courts, and names and titles of judges and magistrates and bail commissioners. It's helped a lot.

[swisscheesed.livejournal.com]

Good gravy, the vanilla chai from Dunkin' Donuts is too thweet.

My brain feels like the Electric Kool Aid Test.

Visions, man, I'm getting such visions.

[gingicat]

Sounds like the paper didn't approve of your actions, and didn't provide information properly showing how you came to your conclusion. Silly gits.

[khaosworks.livejournal.com]

This is because the reporter only showed up on the day I gave my decision (for which I don't usually give extemporaneous reasons) and didn't bother to follow the two days of trial before that. This happens a lot in the smaller courts like mine. Reporters hop from court to court hoping to catch something interesting, get bored, then hop to another court, then show up for the verdict, whereupon they usually get their information from the defence counsels.

Back when I was a Prosecutor I used to cultivate a good working relationship with the crime beat reporters so I could ensure they at least got some of the story straight from my end of the case. Not all prosecutors did this, and I think the new breed of prosecutors seem rather aloof, which explains why the case reports get a bit lopsided in the press. I've expressed my despair that the new prosecution kids aren't street savvy enough and keep too much of a distance between them and opposing counsel and the press (leading to bad adversarial relationships and bad press), but it usually winds up me sounding like I'm doing the "When I Was A Boy" shtick.

[filkerdave.livejournal.com]

Can I have your autograph?

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

You're FAMOUS!

[dawn-again.livejournal.com]

Double coolness!

Having your name in the paper is coolness A, and a very cool thing in and of itself.

Coolness B is the freakout reaction I got when a visiting partner from the Hong Kong office of my firm walked by and happened to notice what site I had up...

That was almost worth being at work 4 1/2 hours early...

[merde.livejournal.com]

i hate, hate, hate having my name in the paper, because they always print more or less the opposite of what i said. most people i know who've ever been in the paper have had similar experiences. i don't know if this is because a lot of reporters are just stupid, or because they intentionally choose to misrepresent things to make them sound the way they want them to.

either way, i don't trust anything i read in the newspaper.

[khaosworks.livejournal.com]

Sometimes it's not the reporter's fault, but it's the editors, who slice up the article to fit the column inches and wind up changing the context entirely. In my litigation days, I found that the best way to ensure accurate reporting (from my point of view) was to provide the reporters with written material - in other words, write their article for them. Never underestimate the value of a good press release.

[dilettante.livejournal.com]

Could they possibly have messed it up in translation betwixt languages?