{"id":7452,"date":"2007-04-05T10:55:43","date_gmt":"2007-04-05T15:55:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/2007\/04\/05\/obbies-got-the-lawbeat\/"},"modified":"2011-08-05T14:53:51","modified_gmt":"2011-08-05T18:53:51","slug":"obbies-got-the-lawbeat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/2007\/04\/05\/obbies-got-the-lawbeat\/","title":{"rendered":"Obbie’s got the LawBeat"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"journalistF\"\u00a0 Mark Obbie<\/a>\u00a0is the director<\/a> of the\u00a0Carnegie Legal Reporting Program<\/a>\u00a0at Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Public Communications, and is the former executive editor of The American Lawyer<\/em> magazine.\u00a0 He knows how difficult it can be for reporters to cover court-related stories “without drowning in technical jargon or buying one side’s spin on the facts.”\u00a0 He wants his journalism students to “turn the complexities of law \u2014 and whether the justice system actually works \u2014 into compelling stories that attract and serve readers and viewers.” \u00a0<\/p>\n

We can get a peek into that learning process at his\u00a0weblog LawBeat<\/a><\/em>, which he began last October.\u00a0\u00a0As Obbie puts it:\u00a0<\/p>\n

LawBeat<\/em> watches the journalists who watch the law. It is meant to start a conversation \u2014 here and in the classroom \u2014 about the quality of journalism focusing on the justice system, lawyers and the law. All posts are by Mark Obbie unless otherwise noted<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Mark’s opening post, “Welcome Mat<\/a>“, explains\u00a0further his approach in LawBeat.\u00a0\u00a0He says: “LawBeat is not a survey of the day\u2019s legal news. It\u2019s not for or about lawyers and the courts (though we won\u2019t kick you out if you visit). It\u2019s not about media law.”\u00a0 Instead LawBeat<\/em> “will be mostly anecdotes that teach lessons.” Those lessons are “critically imporant”:<\/p>\n

\"journalist\"\u00a0 “Ask a lawyer or judge about the quality of legal reporting, and you\u2019re likely to hear all about superficial, hyped or ignorant coverage. Those kinds of mistakes undermine the rule of law and hurt our democracy. We\u2019ll be on the lookout for examples, and hope that you\u2019ll supply us with tips. We’ll also be skeptical of the bench’s and bar’s criticisms, since some are rooted in a desire for public relations rather than journalism — and ignore the difficulties of turning legal and factual complexities into stories with mass appeal.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Although not aimed at lawyers, or the general public, I think we can learn at LawBeat <\/em>how to be better readers of law-related reporting in the media.\u00a0 Those of us who are trained in the law and write about the law, courts, lawyers, etc., can also learn a few lessons on how to do that job better — especially, if we want to inform and not be mere advocates.\u00a0 As a bonus, LawBeat<\/em> is often enjoyable reading that helps us deconstruct some of the most important law-related coverage in the media.\u00a0 This morning, for example, Mark responds to<\/a> a Slate<\/em> piece by Jack Shafer that points the finger at some journalists who have been trying too hard to make “Anna Nicole Smith obsessives feel guilty for their obsession.”\u00a0 More substantively, this week, he has posted:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Court Kreminolgy<\/a>\u00a0(April 03, 2007), which looks at Linda Greenhouse\u2019s two NYT <\/em>stories on Supreme Court decisions that\u00a0share a common theme: “how Justice John Paul Stevens may be voting and reasoning in a way calculated to tip cases his way with the help of Anthony Kennedy\u2019s swing vote.” And,\u00a0<\/li>\n
  2. Scapegoat or anecdote?<\/a>\u00a0(april 3, 2007), which asks whether a Raleigh newspaper mistreated\u00a0a lawyer “when it questioned how much he was paid as a court-appointed guardian for people who could not handle their own financial affairs?” [Ed. Note<\/em>: A good term paper for one of Mark’s students could look at the Washington Post<\/em> series that broke open this topic three years ago (discussed here<\/a> at f\/k\/a<\/em>), and compare it to copycat\u00a0pieces across the nation, such as the recent Seatle Times<\/em> series<\/a> (via Trial Ad Notes<\/em><\/a>)].<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    \"10DeadliestObbie\"\u00a0Special attention should be given to Mark’s enlightening “10 Deadliest Sins of Legal Reporting<\/a>,” dated March 29, 2007.\u00a0 Here’s the list (via LegalBLogWatch<\/em><\/a>).\u00a0 At the posting you’ll find Mark’s commentary about each Legal Reporting Sin.\u00a0 There are a lot of excellent a tips there for readers and writers of law-related stories, and for lawyers who want to do a better job of helping a reporter write a balanced and informative piece:<\/p>\n

    10. Assume you know anything<\/p>\n

    9. Have fun with numbers\u00a0<\/p>\n

    8. Indulge your criminal state of mind<\/p>\n

    7. Live off handouts<\/p>\n

    6. Talk down to readers and viewers\u00a0<\/p>\n

    5. Throw gang signs\u00a0[“cliquish copy” for experts only]\u00a0 \"10DeadliestObbie\"<\/p>\n

    4. Followup failure<\/p>\n

    3. Genuflect to the black robes<\/p>\n

    2. Play scorekeeper<\/p>\n

    1. Join the true believers<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    \u00a0<\/p>\n

    evening warmth–
    \nlatchkey kids play rummy
    \nin the doorway<\/p>\n

    \u00a0<\/p>\n

    An obituary
    \ncircled in the paper –
    \npale winter moon<\/p>\n

    \u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    A grey dawn–
    \nlast night’s poker cards
    \nfacedown on the table<\/p>\n

    \u00a0<\/p>\n

    ……………………………………… by Rebecca Lilly<\/a>
    \n“evening warmth” – The Heron’s Nest<\/em>, Vol. VIII (2006)
    \n“An obituary”& “A grey dawn” –\u00a0    Shadwell Hills<\/em><\/a> (2002)<\/p>\n

    p.s.<\/em> Now available: The Heron’s Nest<\/a><\/em>:\u00a0 Vol. VIII<\/a> Print Edition \"THNVol8\"<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    \u00a0 Mark Obbie\u00a0is the director of the\u00a0Carnegie Legal Reporting Program\u00a0at Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Public Communications, and is the former executive editor of The American Lawyer magazine.\u00a0 He knows how difficult it can be for reporters to cover court-related stories “without drowning in technical jargon or buying one side’s spin on the facts.”\u00a0 He […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":94,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[555,3513],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7452","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-haiku-or-senryu","category-lawyer-news-or-ethics"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6kP1R-1Wc","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7452","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/94"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7452"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7452\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12571,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7452\/revisions\/12571"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}