Chapters 1, 5, and 7.

So, time to respond to this week's massive amounts of reading on crime reporting. Actually, I did find the reading to be pretty informational and interesting.

Chapter One:
Chapter One basically outlined the basics of the crime beat; what it is, how it's approached, etc. One thing, specifically, that I found interesting was where the different technical terms used in crime reporting were defined. It is very important to be accurate in any reporting, but especially in the crime beat, seeing as there are s many terms that could be used incorrectly. I feel like the reading laid this all out pretty well, making something that is easy to get confused, be easily understood. For example, I never really knew the differences between "civil cases" and "criminal cases." After defining these differences, the reading defines terms like, larceny, fraud, theft, burglary, etc. Again, this was helpful, seeing as I have never really known the differences between these things. To be a crime reporter, you need to fully understand the ins and outs of crime, so as not to misinform during your re-telling of what happened.

Another part of chapter one that grabbed my attention was the section in which the moral aspects of crime were discussed. This is something that has always interested me. Why exactly is crime reporting so successful? Why do crime stories demand so much attention? As the reading points out, crime is interesting. The stories involve all of the juicy elements that people want to read about. But couldn't this affect how we report on them? It would be so easy to write a crime story and emphasize all of the most interesting details. But is this moral? This is why I don't think I could ever truly excel at the crime beat. Yes, these stories should be publicized, but it is so easy to publicize them for the wrong reasons.

Chapter Five:
Chapter Five was all about interviewing victims for a crime story and how this act should be approached. This is one of the reasons that I'm not sure if I could really make it in the crime beat. I'm able to be understanding, I am able to be compassionate, and it's easy for me to talk to someone, to gain their trust. But if someone has just been through something traumatic, I wouldn't want to make them feel like their privacy was being invaded, I feel like this would be the hardest part of crime reporting. If someone knows that your prime goal is to write a story on an event that happened to be particularly traumatic or upsetting for them, how trustworthy could they possibly be? The reading mentions that reporters need to create a rapport with the victims before interviewing them, but I still feel as though the line between this and insincerity could be very thin.

Chapter Seven:
Chapter Seven is all about the court beat. I feel like this would be one of the most difficult beats to cover; for me, anyhow. In order to cover courts, I feel like it would be essential to truly understand how the legal system works, and how court events would work. And these are things that are not exactly easily understood. Both of my parents are lawyers, and I still have such a hard time understanding the legal system, despite how often I am surrounded by it.

One thing that caught my attention in this chapter is that, yes, court reporting can be confusing, long, and boring. However, the chapter encourages the reporter to make it into everything it can be. The court is one of the only places in which a reporter has no more rights than anyone else observing. So, when not allowed to ask questions, you listen intently, make sure that your reporting is accurate. However, in addition to all of this, report not only on what is being said, but on what is going on around you. Pay attention to people's reactions, body language, how people interact. I feel that this is good advice not only in court reporting, but in reporting in general.