Re-Imagining the Reporters Workshop in Response to the Pandemic
Recognizing the importance of playing a proactive role in deepening reporters’ understanding of the courts system, the supreme court has hosted a Reporters Workshop since 1989. Sponsored by The Florida Bar Media and Communications Law Committee and subsidized by The Florida Bar Foundation, this annual event aims to help reporters better understand judicial processes and to make covering court events easier and more accessible. The sessions—which are conducted by judges, 律师, 学科领域专家, and veteran reporters—vary each year, but they often focus on topics such as effective techniques for reporting high-profile cases, 佛罗里达州绩效保留制度, public records and how to obtain the ones you need, 诽谤法和诽谤, 律师的监管, and journalism in the world of social media.
在过去, the workshops have been in-person, two-day events at the supreme court, with multiple sessions offered throughout. 然而, after last year’s workshop had to be cancelled due to COVID-19—and with ongoing health concerns, uncertainty about the safety of travel and of gathering in groups, and pandemic restrictions—Media and Communications Law Committee members took a fresh approach for the 2021 program. Held virtually, this year’s workshop will offer single sessions regularly throughout the year. By eliminating the need for participants to travel and to make an extended time commitment, and by “opening the space” for a greater number of participants, organizers are making it possible for a broader group of reporters to attend sessions.
The first session this year, scheduled for the end of May, is called Covering Trials During a Pandemic. Given the dramatic changes to court procedures, 协议, and rules wrought by the pandemic—and the resulting adjustments that judges, 律师, 法院工作人员, 方, and the media have had to make—this session will address what reporters should know about covering court events, particularly remote proceedings, to best inform their readers and viewers about the administration of justice in Florida during this extraordinary time. The session will also focus on the ways in which media coverage will be affected by the pandemic-engendered delay in criminal and jury trials. Panelists will include Florida court 新闻主任s (萨拉·迈尔斯女士, Twentieth Circuit; Ms Eunice Sigler, Eleventh Circuit; and Ms Tricia Knox, deputy director of the Florida Supreme Court Public Information Office), a clerk of court (Ms Tara 绿色, 克莱县, and president of the Florida Court Clerks & Comptrollers), 律师, and reporters. With jury trials around the state resuming with increasing frequency, organizers believe this topic will be of great use and interest to reporters.
这种新模式可能, 事实上, alter the way Reporters Workshops are conducted long after the dangers of COVID have passed. Chief Justice Canady has frequently 指出 that the pandemic “will forever change the way Florida’s courts operate”—in particular, that much work will continue to be done remotely, significantly reducing the costs and burdens of litigation. The pandemic has modified the ways in which education and trainings are likely to be conducted in the future, 也. 先生. 保罗·弗莱明, 新闻主任 with the Office of the State Courts Administrator and one of the workshop’s court liaisons, 指出, “This presentation is a great chance to see if there are some new and different ways to approach the content while
protecting the underlying purpose.”
 Ms Tricia Knox, deputy director, Public Information Office, Florida Supreme Court |
 尊敬的Tara S. 绿色, 巡回法院书记, 克莱县, and president of the Florida Court Clerks and Comptrollers |
 萨拉·迈尔斯女士, 新闻主任, 第二十司法巡回法院, and president of the Florida Court Public Information Officers |
 Ms Eunice Sigler, director, Office of Government Liaison & Public Relations, Eleventh Judicial Circuit |