Face sheets, affidavits, DUI’s - OH MY!

When thinking of journalism, I thought that a reporter would only have to worry about interviews, sources, and the use of good grammar. However, my assumption of this form of journalism was shattered after spending a session observing all the materials that is needed when trying to create a well-structured and informative story.

Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office’s director of the communications, J.D Callaway, showed that it could be overwhelming to sort through massive amounts of report documents and other records in order to obtain factual and reliable sources of information. Journalists may have to sort through affidavit reports, DUI reports, individual crime reports and traffic crash reports before thinking of getting a good lead on a story; with the additional interviews and research that is required.

One good thing about having to use so many documents is that you are bound to walk away with a story. With a simple glance at the “probable cause statement” of a criminal report affidavit, a mediocre journalist would stop there and use the description as their story in total. Callaway said that usually good stories are developed through probable cause statements. However, Callaway suggested that a “diligent” journalist should verify, check and recheck the information after getting those records. He said that it is inadequate just to rely on the officer who wrote up the reports.

When wanting to find more information about a suspect, Callaway stated that the “Face sheet” is probably the best source of getting it instead of only using the criminal charge report. This document goes into more depth about a suspect’s offense. I was intrigued to know that a journalist could get a lot out of who the suspect is personally by seeing their place of employment. At first, I thought it was senseless to even have that information disclosed because it may give the employer/company a bad reputation. But now, it is actual vital information that can help the investigation of a story.

Although the workload is tedious and time consuming, the Hillsborough Records Center seems to try to cut down that load of copying with their “new” policy of only 3 copies per day. The argument that was freshly discovered during the class virtual trip was that the Record Center has no right to withhold copies and that it violates their rights. According to the Sunshine laws, custodians of public records cannot under any means deny a person copies of records. They must produce the desired amount of copies regardless if it is an excessive amount or if it is an inconvenience. However, the law states that a custodian can charge an additional service charge fee for the extensive use of information technology or personnel. The argument is still pending if the records center should allow only "3 copies daily".