My day in court ... reporting

"What's the difference between bail and bond?"

That was the question the newspaper's cops and court reporter asked me. I'll admit. It caught me off guard. But he unexpectedly asked the question because I was going with him to court. He does this every day. But for me, a new reporting challenge.

What is court reporting? Tedious. Hours of listening to a judge make very similar rulings and hoping that a small nugget can be turned into an actual story. Sometimes, it's long hours with the only reward being three to four uncredited briefs.

Unfortunately, that happened today.

The court had a closed-circuit television feed that went from the jail to the courtroom. We sat in the courtroom and watched as suspects had their day in court. We took notes on every person who came in front of the camera. You almost feel voyeuristic. But again, it's a part of the job. Ultimately, the reporter gave me two briefs to work on.

After all of the day's cases went in front of the judge, we walked behind the scenes. The court's clerk gave us the police reports to select cases and we went into a side room to take down the details. It is a daily routine. The clerk, police officers, judge, custodians and just about anybody else in the building knew the reporter. The thing to keep in mind is that, whether you're intimidated or not, whether you're an intern or reporter, you represent your newspaper. These city employees have dealt with reporters for years. For the most part, they know what information you want and they give it to you. I can only speak for this town, however, as some smaller villages might not be as forthcoming. But as in every other area of journalism, it never hurts to ask anything.

The major part of court reporting is making sure you make just one trip. The details from the police report must be complete. After I took my notes from the police reports, the reporter gave me a pop quiz to make sure I had done it right. Of course, I didn't get everything. Oh, I did just fine - if a story/brief didn't depend on it. But the story/brief did in this case.

What details did were needed? Age, gender, suspect's hometown and address, where and when the arrest happened, the charges - which often determine whether a story is a story or brief. Basically, anything on a police report should be written down so when you return to the newsroom, you can cut down the pages of notes into a four-sentence brief. Much like a normal story, you have to trim the fat and probably use about 10 percent of what you know.

The reporter told me that cop briefs almost follow a formula. General statement lead to bring in a reader. More specifics on identity and charges the suspect faces. Then at the end, some details that give the reader more information like possible punishment, where they are being held (you find this out after returning to the newsroom and making a quick phone call to the jailer), when their court date is scheduled, etc.

What'd I learn today? The thrill of the cops and court beat. No two days are the same. Some days, you work hours for little reward. Other times, you can end up with three or four stories in one day. The phone calls with police departments are also different. Sometimes a phone call is a 5-second thing that doesn't yield anything. Other times, it's just follow ups to find out where someone is being held. Still others can be follow ups to something heard over the scanner. And occasionally, they can yield several story ideas. But it must be done.

Next week, our regular cops reporter will take a couple of days off. They might ask me to fill in for him. If they do, maybe I'll be able to report on a story.

Oh, and what is the difference between bail and bond? Simply put, bail is the bigger number while bond is usually 10 percent of bail. If a suspect posts bond, he is released. Which number you use in a story usually depends on the size of the number. At least I got that one right.

Change of direction

Journalism is unpredictable.
I got to the newsroom with a plan today. But my agenda, which included an interview with a village official and a trip to a small bookstore for a feature story, completely changed.

A former village president in the region died Sunday and I had to write the story. The editor said the length should be 10, 12, 15 inches. To me, that meant whatever I can get. For the record, it ended up being a 20-inch story. The change in plan is something that happens at least once a week. When breaking news happens, somebody has to write it. Being an intern does not exclude you from the rotation. But that's why the internship has to be taken seriously. When you stop interning and begin reporting on a full-time basis, these days happen.

I went out to the small town where he was president and beat the street. Because he taught for 20+ years, ran a business 20+ years and was president for 20 years in the same village, finding people who knew him was not difficult.

The story began with an interview with the village clerk. She had worked with the former mayor for about 4 years before his retirement. She was prepared, too. She had a box of tissues sitting there just in case. Fortunately, the water works never happened. A crying interviewee can change an interview. But that's a topic for another day.

We finished the interview and she gave me a picture of the man. Unfortunately, the newspaper will not use it. But at least I returned to the office with an option. That's what visual presentation is all about. You have to give the newspaper options.

Through different twists and turns, I found myself on the phone with a man who had been the former president's friend for more than 26 years. Early in the interview, I had to determine what kind of interview it would be. You are talking with a man who knew somebody for 26 years and the guy has just died. I don't have a lot of experience with that but from what I've been told, usually people want to speak about their friends. But i proceeded cautiously anyway. Fortunately, the man wanted to talk. He said he and his friend had coffee at least once a week at a local restaurant.

Again, another place to try and find a source. It worked as the owner of the place and his son remembered the man. In fact, the owner took a cup of coffee to the man before he died. He said he never drank it but they all knew he smelled it. That kind of memory makes the job interesting and fulfilling.

So it does not seem as if everything went perfectly, on my way back to the newsroom, I thought I'd stop at the police station to talk to somebody about the man. Nobody was in the office.

The lesson I got from today and days like today is that you never know what a day in the newsroom will bring you. My meeting with the village official and my trip to the bookstore had to be postponed until tomorrow. The way the system is set up, you give a constant update of what you will work on every day during the week. That update is now a day behind. But I guess that's just part of the gig and, like the paper, I'll have to adjust tomorrow.

Real World - Journalism

One of the most difficult things in developing a blog is determining a focus. Blogs that cover everything in the world, as the first few posts of The Journey tried to do and as Ramblin' On will continue to do, don't have a specific enough interest.
This means only people who want your opinion will read the blog.
After a few posts, I know what my advantage is: I learn every day at work and am on a career path.
Taking this one step further, journalism students don't really know what is out there as they progress in their careers. Neither do I.
But I am going to give a glimpse into the learning process. The learning curve. This blog will cover a lot of things. I won't get into technical aspects of covering a meeting. These things, of course, are learned from people much smarter than myself.
But I hope to talk about the background of the way things work at a meeting and the first time somebody told me about meeting packets.
The content of off-the-record conversations, naturally, will be left off the record.
But the topic of off-the-record conversations and how different they are can be discussed at length.
Again, basically, it's not a "how to" as much as it is a "what to expect."
For example, I didn't go point-by-point and tell how to interview in my Cambodian post. I just told what effect the interview had on me.

Cambodian hero

Something great about being a journalist-in-training is I get to meet some interesting people, much like I will when the career begins.
In the last two weeks, while also trying to keep up with some village news on my beats, I interviewed a World War II veteran for the first time and a man who had just returned from Cambodia, where he tested his invention, a reworked 1947 Farmall tractor that now is perfect for destroying land mines.
Although the WW II veteran was a great interview on a personal level - I have a history minor only because of my interest in the war - the guy from Crystal Lake, Ill., who went to Cambodia had me thinking about a lot of things.
Gary Christ went to Cambodia to help with sewer and septic systems about 6 years ago. When he returned, however, the inventor set to work on something that could help ease the problems of Cambodia.
Past wars have made the country a virtual bed of land mines. The ratio of amputees to residents is staggering with 2003 estimates at 1 in every 290 people.
But what got me thinking is, here's a guy who does not have to do this. He did not invent the machine to become rich. He did it because he wanted to help.
What stops me from helping others in the same manner? Sure, right now, I'm not going to take a trip to Cambodia and solve the land mine problem.
But at least I can take comfort knowing that some day I will have the chance to help, even if it is just on a local level.
And had I not taken my path toward journalism, I probably would never have met this man.

Hello ... is this thing on?

This is my blog.
What is going to happen in my blog?
I will at times talk about fun things (Sports, TV, Paris Hilton's latest sob session).
I will at times talk about things that make me wonder about society and where it's going (wars, politics, reality TV).
Sometimes, I will talk about things going on in my little necks of the woods (West Dundee, Ill., during the summer and Charleston, Ill., when school's in session).
Should you care what I think about these things? Absolutely not. But I'm hoping you comment on my blog ... even if it's just to tell me I think way too highly of myself.
A little bit about myself: I'm a 30-year-old college senior studying journalism at Eastern Illinois University. I took several years off after I graduated high school in 1995 to pursue other things ... namely, working at a dead-end job. I went back to school in August of 2003 at a community college and transferred to EIU in August of 2005. I'm active on the school's newspaper, The Daily Eastern News, and will be editor-in-chief in the fall. I am working on my second internship. This one at The Daily Herald, a paper in Chicago and the suburbs.
That's a little bit about myself. I have more, but will save it for another time. I hope at least one person out there reads this. But if not, hey, it's all for me.