A Reporter's Life


Scooping

It's a good feeling to scoop the competition, especially when nothing about a story regarding a massage parlor being sued for $100,000 runs in other publications.

It's an even better feeling to scoop the competition twice in one day. Sometimes another publication does get something about the story, but sometimes they only have one or two quotes from the prosecutor (and certainly nothing like an "I'm going to have to rethink my abilities as an attorney" quote) after a murder trial verdict -- and nothing from both families.

Am I a bit proud? Yes. Did I work hard for those scoops? Definitely. Am I too proud? Who knows.

Posted by Layla at 9:32 AM, August 05, 2003

— Comments —



Some interesting things.

"Pleaded innocent": I didn't think one could plead innocent; I thought it was "guilty" or "not guilty". Is pleading innocent a California thing, or are my impressions (formed mostly by TV) wrong?

I found it interesting that you used Fleming's quote about questioning his abilities as an attourney. I assume that it was with his permission, because I would worry that you would hurt your professional relationship if not... I don't think there's anything wrong with it, but it struck me as odd.

The photo of Dubois from the article isn't loading... Broken link?

The other article is also very interesting. Good job on the scoops!

Posted by: Monkeyman at 10:19 AM, August 05, 2003

"Pleaded innocent" is an Associated Press style thing; it's to prevent the "not" part of "not guilty" from somehow being omitted. The only way I can get away with writing "not guilty" is if I directly quote someone in court. But, speaking of TV, people sit up straight and say, "Not guilty, Your Honor" a lot less frequently than they do on TV. It's often just an attorney speaking quickly and saying, "My client will plead not guilty, deny all enhancements and proceed time not waived."

Of course Fleming knew I was quoting him, and I certainly didn't need his "permission" to do so (though I usually ask because it's a nice gesture). He's been in the business for 24 years and, by then, attorneys know that if they don't want something on the record, they ask before saying anything. Anything said in the presence of a reporter is fair game, and I had my notebook out and was writing as he spoke. In fact, there were more quotes I didn't use.

The broken link doesn't surprise me at all. As it is, every single link on my Dutra page is currently broken, and I imagine there are lots of other broken links all over my Web site due to the incompetent program our paper uses for its site. My site is in the top 30 of all referrals to our newspaper's Web site for the year, but I'm thinking of downloading the articles and hosting them on my own site so the links ACTUALLY WORK once in a while.

Posted by: Layla at 10:29 AM, August 05, 2003

I didn't think there would be anything wrong with you quoting without permission, for the reasons you've stated... But as you point out, he would know enough to not saying anything on the record that he didn't want reported, which I suppose nullifies the thought I had before.

I've thought for a while that for articles you write, it might be worth making local copies to your own website. It would certainly make things easier for folks like me, who always seem to manage to follow your links AFTER the website has broken them and BEFORE you have replaced them with the updated links. It would also help when the old articles have been archived away already and aren't as easy to access. That's mostly selfish stuff, though. :-)

Posted by: Monkeyman at 10:46 AM, August 05, 2003

I should probably archive my articles, but then it comes down to a matter of effort. Do I really want to spend the time to archive hundreds of articles? I think I will archive the Dutra articles, though, since that page has one of the highest levels of traffic on my site.

Posted by: Layla at 10:51 AM, August 05, 2003

After reading that LONG stream of conversation I only have two words to say: Go Layla!

Posted by: jpb at 11:13 AM, August 05, 2003

Layla,
Way to go. You rock my car! Much more exciting than the sleepy town of Poway.

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