First, I would like to wish everyone a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year. Hopefully 2010, will be a banner year for all of us, whether in the courtroom, deposition suite, captioning office or wherever else this outstanding profession takes you. I would also like to wish everyone luck with those New Years’ resolutions, whatever they may be.
As we start this new year, I would be remiss if we did not discuss the Conference of State Court Administrators December 2009, “White Paper.” This 16-page document is a must read for all of us. It can be found on the NCRA website on the opening page. But here is the link to the document: http://cosca.ncsc.dni.us/WhitePapers/DigitalRecording-Jan-2010.pdf.
I implore everyone to read it and to try to stay calm through all 16 pages. It was very difficult for me to stay composed while reading it and I am sure it will be difficult for you as well.
This, “White Paper” document compiled by the Conference of State Court
Administrators received absolutely no input from the Stenographic Community.
Nothing, nada, zip, zero, nil, input. In my humble opinion the document
has one goal in mind. And that is to put the Stenographic Reporter in the
worst possible light.
It starts with the introduction, which claims in
the second sentence of the document that it is “ripe for review“ regarding the
process of making an official record. Then, by the end of the
initial paragraph of this writing, it is claimed that, “change is necessary.”
I am sure that everyone’s blood pressure is going to rise through the roof upon
reading just the first few pages of this so-called report, regarding the field
that all of us are engaged.
The topics that follow after the introduction are all issues that have been discussed and debated throughout the years. Some of these include, decline in reporter resources, efficient and timely transcript production, along with many others that are mentioned, including school enrollment.
We are fortunate in New York State to have a very strong student enrollment and top-notch reporting schools. Unfortunately this document does not acknowledge our strong school-student base which is producing excellent new stenographic reporters.
It then goes on to misinform everyone about the “Opportunities of Digital Recording methods.” These are the same methods that we have been hearing about for years. Unfortunately, this document does not address any of the serious and documented problems with utilizing digital recording. Although I did find it humorous when this paper did mention that in capital cases and complex civil litigation trials that a Stenographic Reporter should be utilized or when real-time is needed in such important cases. In other words, the court administrators would like to have the power to decide which cases are important enough to use the superior and proven method of producing a record. Which in turn means to me that in those capital and complex civil cases, even the court administrators don’t trust the digital recording method.
NCRA President SueLynn Morgan, R.P.R. has written a response to this document
(see p. 9), which is also posted on the NCRA website. Please take the time
to read President Morgan’s excellent response to this jaded, one-sided,
ill-informed document, which again, had absolutely no input from our
Stenographic Community.
I would urge everyone to print this “White
Paper” out and hand it to a non-member of NYSCRA and just ask them to read it
over. Then mention to them how important it is for ALL OF US to stay
engaged in this wonderful field of Court Reporting, which includes being a
member of the “Oldest Court Reporting Association in the Nation” our very own
New York State Court Reporters Association.
In closing, I would like to thank all of you, especially our new members who have recently joined and all of our Corporate Sponsors, new and old, as well as all of our new Board Members of NYSCRA. And please keep in mind our annual Convention this October in beautiful Niagara Falls, home of the outstanding Seneca Niagara Casino!
And of course -- Write fast, or video (shoot) fast and sell lots of copies!
Respectfully submitted,
Stephen A. Zinone, R.P.R.
President NYSCRA