Lisa Demer's Style Changes Slightly

[Additional Comment: Today's (Thursday) article looks like the old Demer]

I've complimented Lisa on her reporting of the Anderson trial. She's kept up crisp, relevant, and neutral coverage of that trial and the Kott trial. I know from the blog how hard it is to keep the writing as unbiased as possible. It's hard to do succinct summaries of all the details that capture the key points without putting one's own spin on it. I've got a little more freedom here because all the other media cover the basics. I don't have to give a complete overview.

So I was surprised to read this morning's article on the Kott trial.

It started out with:

Ex-state Rep. Pete Kott's son tried to keep his father out of federal prison Tuesday

Well, probably this is true, but it sure puts a negative spin on Kott's testimony from the git go. I'm sure Judge Sedwick wouldn't allow this in the testimony. We don't really know what Peter's thinking.

The younger Kott, who is also named Peter, testified Tuesday that $7,993 in cash he received from his father was just an advance for future flooring work. That's not so, said the Veco executives. They said the money was a payoff to allow Kott's son to take time off and work on Kott's re-election campaign.

It looks like the Veco executives were rebutting what Kott Jr. said. What they are quoted as saying happened last week in court. You wouldn't know that by reading it.

Kott said that he served as his dad's campaign manager in 2006 but that his title just as easily could have been gofer.

The first part of this sentence is accurate, but he didn't say "I could have been called a gofer." The writers are making that point, which I would agree with based on what he said he actually did. But the sentence starts with "Kott said..." and there is nothing to indicate where the writers stop quoting Kott and start adding their own interpretation.

These are just little things, but it is just these little things that make the difference between sloppy, biased reporting and good reporting. The only difference I see is that Lisa isn't writing this alone the way she has been. I recognize it isn't easy to get your writing all cleaned up. And I know that I leave things in my posts I wished I'd fixed. It's especially hard when I'm doing a quick post during a break in trial. So, this is just a friendly chide. Keep up your regular high standards.


I'm reluctant to put my camera in people's faces, especially when they'd rather not be photographed. But from a distance without interrupting is ok I think. That's just my comfort level and I'm glad the other guys have the stomach to flash in the faces of people we should see. Anyway, here's a picture in the Federal Building cafeteria at lunch today to give you a sense of things. The Kott party is on the left. (Pete's in the red tie.) KTUU's Bill McAllister is working on his computer toward the middle. And Lisa Demer and Sean Cockerham work on the right.