In the grand tradition of news writing, the first assignment many rookie reporters have to wet their feet is the police beat. According to Reporting for the Media (Bender, Davenport, Drager, and Fedler), it serves as an excellent training ground for several reasons. First of all, a new reporter covering the police beat has to do a lot of legwork, ask a lot of questions, loosen a lot of lips. This process familiarizes young writers with their communities both socially and geographically. Secondly, for a novice ink-slinger, reporting police-related news provides an education in the way of news values, especially the need for accuracy. And, perhaps most-valuably, learning the ins and outs of the police beat offers reporters an opportunity to build relationships with sources who will serve them in their careers for many years to come.
Not all police reporters are rookies, though.
Some newspapers swear by sending only veteran writers who have been covering that beat for years to talk to the police.
According to Jacob Emerich, a cadet who has worked the Port Huron police station’s front desk for the last two years, this second option the route the “Times Herald” takes when dealing with the Port Huron police.
He said he usually sees the familiar face of a seasoned reporter every morning.
The “Times Herald,” Emerich explained, sends someone down to them, or calls to check in at least twice-a-day.
“Usually, they have the same people come down - either Jesse (Dunsmore) or Liz (Shepard). We know them by name. They know us by name, “ he said. “They stop in. They try to get information from us. They try to keep things good between us.”
Cadet Emerich added that, whenever possible, reporters try to get their crime-based stories from what they can pick up on police scanners (a tip that is, indeed, offered in Reporting for the Media), so sometimes they can actually avoid a trip to the station altogether.
“As soon as they hear something interesting over the police scanner, though,“ Emerich said, “they pretty much immediately call us to see what’s going on,” so their long-time relationship definitely comes in handy.
He noted that, in his experience, things really only get rocky between Port Huron police and the “Times Herald“, is when something big - like a murder - has happened, and officers aren’t allowed to give out any details, whatsoever.
“They’ll actually fill out a Freedom of Information Act (F.O.I.A) form,” Emerich explained.”
But, he continued, he understands that, at the end of the day, it is all in the name of him doing his job, and them doing theirs. So, he said, especially because they all know each other so well professionally, they are still able to maintain a smooth relationship.
He said that, even though he and the officers at the station sometimes call the local reporters pains in the butt, and he thinks “they can become pests,” Cadet Emerich also said of the TH reporters, “if they come to ask us about what happened the night before, and nothing really did, they’re not pushy about it,” and “they do a good job keeping the people informed.”
So, it seems the Times Herald really has their ducks in a row regarding crime reporting.
It can’t always be easy for a reporter to impress a cop into giving up a complimentary report - that’s just not the nature of the journalist-police dynamic. But, that‘s a skill the writers at the good, ol‘ Times Herald appear to have mastered.
Way to go, guys!
Maybe with success like this speaking to the efficiency of using veteran journalists to cover the police beat, newspapers the world over might begin to consider starting out their rookie writers elsewhere?
Probably not, but it could happen!
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