| Chapter 1
The
Crime Beat
By
Dave Krajicek
Digging In
Sources
The ability to develop sources is a hallmark of exceptional journalists.
Some reporters make the mistake of seeking out sources only when
faced with deadline pressure. Source relationships need cultivation,
especially on the crime beat, where so many cops are suspicious
of journalists.
One journalism textbook quotes a Michigan cop about the issue of
trust: "It may sound paranoid to you, but outside of my fellow
officers I don't trust anyone except members of my family. And sometimes
I'm not too sure about all of them."
Reputation and professionalism are crucial elements of source development.
Comportment and punctuality also count. Prove yourself accurate,
careful and fair, and sources will come, although it may take time.
New reporters should salt their beat with business cards. Show
potential sources that you are accessible and responsive –
to both praise and criticism.
You can't reasonably be expected to know a beat thoroughly in less
than 18 months, and some crime reporters spend a lifetime cultivating
police sources. No matter how many accurate, honest articles you
write, your relationship with a police agency can go sour on a single
story that is regarded as "anti-cop." When that happens,
make your case to key sources and hope they agree.
Board of Directors
Look outside the agency you cover for expert sources in specialized
areas. Consider it your informal source board of directors.
Reliable experts can offer advice, guidance and analysis. Develop
long-term relationships with sources whose expertise might be needed
repeatedly – advocates, academics, experts or even gadflies.
These sources may be quoted in stories. They might also be called
on for off-the-record guidance or story ideas.
Here are some of the subjects that come up frequently on the crime
beat:
- Police training, ethics and personnel issues
- Police budgets and financing
- Crime-fighting strategies
- Police use of force and weapons technology
- Police communications, including radios and computers
- Crime statistics
- Civil rights and legal process, including Miranda and rules
of evidence
- Forensics, crime scenes and investigation procedures
- Crime victim advocacy
- Organized crime and gangs
- Fraud and white-collar crime
- Computer crime
- Missing persons
Police-Media Relations
This can vary broadly from city to city, but rare is the police
department that has a warm relationship with the local media. Cops
may see you as an opponent. They may not impede your work, but neither
will they make it easier.
The goal of a crime reporter should be to earn respect –
not admiration – of police sources through accuracy, fairness
and impartiality. In some police pressrooms, certain reporters are
known as pro-police. They may get the first interview with a policeman's
widow, but they will not get respect.
Consider that some news operations with more than one police reporter
have had success turning the good-cop/bad-cop routine on the police.
PIOs
The 20-year trend in police reporting has been toward limiting access
to "real" cops in favor of a police spokesman or public
information officer.
An earnest, professional PIO can be a helpful source when it comes
to the efficient, timely transmission of information. But a PIO
who tries to impede your access or who serves as a promotional flack
for his agency or boss is more hindrance than help.
Here are two arguments against the PIO filter: 1. Cops directly
involved in an investigation get their due when journalists are
allowed to speak with them directly. 2. Information is more accurate
when it comes directly from the primary investigator.
Issues of motivation matter, as well.
During a media-relations panel at a police convention a few years
ago, a PIO from Florida said he had two occupational priorities:
No. 1, to make his police chief look good, and, No. 2, to make his
police department look good.
He added that any police spokesman who didn't agree was in the
wrong job. No spokesman among the 75 in the room raised a hand to
disagree.
Perhaps the customers of both the media and police departments
are best served if there is an adversarial edge to our relationship.
Neither can claim to be an unadulterated advocate for the public.
We may need one another, but we need not love one another.
New Paradigm
An example of the new "briefing" paradigm of police-media
relations was evident during the 2002 suburban sniper probe in the
Washington, D.C., area.
The case attracted keen media attention and scores of reporters.
A suburban police chief staged a mass briefing of the media as often
as four times per day. The chief apparently believed the information
he released during these briefings should have sufficed. He lashed
out angrily when journalists uncovered "unauthorized"
details, such as the tarot card left at the scene of one shooting.
He also lashed out at the use of secondary, "talking head"
sources, such as the retired law enforcement officials who work
as paid TV news consultants. The chief said these were spurious
sources because they were not privy to official briefings.
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