Media Handbook for California Court Professionals MEDIA HANDBOOK FOR CALIFORNIA COURT PROFESSIONALS 56 Media Handbook for California Court Professionals Judicial Council of California Administrative Office of the Courts Ronald M. George Chief Justice of California and Chair of the Judicial Council William C. Vickrey Administrative Director of the Courts Ronald G. Overholt Chief Deputy Director Kenneth L. Kann Director, Executive Office Programs Division Copyright © 2007 Judicial Council of California/Administrative Office of the Courts. All rights reserved Except as permitted under the Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means, whether electronic, online, or mechanical, including the use of information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the copyright holder. Permission is hereby granted to nonprofit institutions to reproduce and distribute for educational purposes all or part of the work if the copies are distributed at or below cost and credit the Judicial Council of California/Administrative Office of the Courts. Printed in the United States of America 11 10 09 08 07 5 4 3 2 1 Printed on recycled and recyclable paper This publication is also available at http://serranus.courtinfo.ca.gov (log-in required) To obtain additional copies of this book and its companion binder, the Media Reference Kit, or updates to the binder as they become available, please contact the AOC Office of Communications: Judicial Council of California/Administrative Office of the Courts Public Information Office/Office of Communications 455 Golden Gate Avenue San Francisco, California 94102-3688 Ph: 800-900-5980 or 415-865-7738 Fax: 415-865-4334 E-mail: [email protected] Media Handbook for California Court Professionals Contents Foreword. v Acknowledgments . vii Introduction. ix Chapter 1 The Media. 1 Chapter 2 Getting Started. .11 Chapter 3 Photographing, Recording, and Broadcasting in the Courtroom. 23 Chapter 4 What’s Public?. 33 Chapter 5 How to Handle Media Calls. 43 Chapter 6 The Interview. 55 Chapter 7 Responding to the Negative. 75 Chapter 8 News Conferences, News Releases, and Media Kits. 85 Chapter 9 Strategies for Positive Publicity. 97 Chapter 10 High-Profile Cases . 129 Chapter 11 Emergency Communications. 147 Chapter 12 A Final Word and Additional Resources. 177 Index. 185 Judicial Council of California Hon. Ronald M. George Hon. Barbara J. Miller Chief Justice of California and Judge of the Superior Court Chair of the Judicial Council of Alameda County Mr. Raymond G. Aragon Hon. Eileen C. Moore Attorney at Law Associate Justice of the Court of Appeal, Hon. Marvin R. Baxter Fourth Appellate District, Division Three Associate Justice of the Supreme Court Hon. Dennis E. Murray Presiding Judge of the Superior Court Mr. Anthony P. Capozzi of Tehama County Attorney at Law Ms. Barbara J. Parker Hon. Candace D. Cooper Chief Assistant City Attorney, Oakland Presiding Justice of the Court of Appeal, Second Appellate District, Division Eight Hon. James Michael Welch Judge of the Superior Court Hon. Ellen M. Corbett of San Bernardino County Member of the California State Senate Hon. Peter Paul Espinoza Advisory Members Assistant Supervising Judge of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County Hon. Ronald E. Albers Commissioner of the Superior Court Hon. Terry B. Friedman of San Francisco County Judge of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County Ms. Tamara Lynn Beard Executive Officer, Superior Court Mr. Thomas V. Girardi of Fresno County Attorney at Law Hon. Joseph Dunn Hon. Richard D. Huffman Chief Executive Officer, California Associate Justice of the Court of Appeal, Medical Association Fourth Appellate District, Division One Ms. Deena Fawcett Hon. Jamie A. Jacobs-May Clerk/Administrator, Court of Appeal, Assistant Presiding Judge of the Third Appellate District Superior Court of Santa Clara County Hon. Scott L. Kays Hon. Dave Jones Judge of the Superior Court of Solano County Member of the California State Assembly Mr. Michael M. Roddy Hon. Suzanne N. Kingsbury Executive Officer, Superior Court of San Presiding Judge of the Superior Court Diego County of El Dorado County Hon. Nancy Wieben Stock Hon. Carolyn B. Kuhl Presiding Judge of the Superior Court Judge of the Superior Court of Orange County of Los Angeles County Ms. Sharol Strickland Hon. Thomas M. Maddock Executive Officer, Superior Court Judge of the Superior Court of Butte County of Contra Costa County Hon. Charles W. McCoy, Jr. Mr. William C. Vickrey Assistant Presiding Judge of the Administrative Director of the Courts and Superior Court of Los Angeles County Secretary of the Judicial Council v Foreword We are pleased to present the Media Handbook for California Court Professionals, a guide for those who are responsible for media relations in their courts. The publication of the Media Handbook comes at the same time the branch and the individual courts are developing and imple- menting their strategic and operational goals for the next six years. Central to these goals is a greater emphasis on reinforc- ing public trust and confidence, which will affect every inter- action the courts have with the public. Public education about the role and work of the courts, improved access to information about court processes and services, transparency, and, above all, responsiveness to our communities—all are a part of meeting our overriding responsibility of serving and being accountable to the public. Each court and each staff member has an important role to play in the public’s trust and confidence in the judicial branch. The handbook provides guidelines for communicating with the public through the media. It includes advice for establishing a media program in your court and educating the public about your court’s duties, programs, and activities. It shows how to create media policies, develop media contacts, and handle high-profile cases and emergencies. The Media Handbook was written by Leanne Kozak, a former television journalist and trial court public information officer who now produces the AOC’s award-winning California Courts News, a monthly news broadcast for court staff throughout the MEDIA HANDBOOK F O R C A L I F ORNIA COURT PRO F ESSIONALS vi state. The book is a collaborative project of the AOC’s Public Information Office and Office of Communications and includes valuable contributions from experienced public information of- ficers and others in the California courts. We wish you well as you strive to improve the public’s under- standing of the courts, and we hope this handbook will be a valu- able resource in that journey. Sincerely, Ronald M. George William C. Vickrey Chief Justice of California and Administrative Director of the Courts Chair of the Judicial Council vii Acknowledgments We wish to thank the following individuals for their invaluable contributions to this book: Gary M. Blair, Executive Officer, Superior Court of Santa Barbara County Karen Dalton, Public Affairs Officer, Superior Court of San Diego County Hon. Alden E. Danner, Judge of the Superior Court of Santa Clara County Kathleen Goetsch, Executive Officer, Superior Court of Merced County Hon. William J. Murray, Jr., Judge of the Superior Court of San Joaquin County Hon. Edward A. Panelli (Ret.), Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of California Allan Parachini, Public Information Officer, Superior Court of Los Angeles County Hon. John W. Parker, Judge of the Superior Court of San Joaquin County Lynda Pierini, Jury Supervisor, Superior Court of Madera County Hon. David Rosenberg, Judge of the Superior Court of Yolo County Carl Schulhof, Public Information Officer, Superior Court of Santa Clara County Peter Shaplen, Media Coordinator, Peter Shaplen Productions Robert Sherman, Assistant Executive Officer, Superior Court of Ventura County Joshua Weinstein, Senior Attorney, Office of the General Counsel, Administrative Office of the Courts Editorial Staff Author: Leanne Kozak Project Manager: Lynn Holton Editor: Fran Haselsteiner Art Director: Suzanne Bean Graphic Artist: Sheila Ng Proofreaders: Lura Dymond, Jill Whelchel, Christopher Bernard Indexer: Katherine Pitcoff Cover Photo: Dexter Craig ix Introduction As the world grows smaller and increasingly interconnected, people have come to expect more information than ever. The mass media respond to and feed that demand, which inevitably affects the justice system and the courts in myriad ways. It is safe to say that virtually every superior court in California will, at one time or another, be contacted by the media. Usually the subject is routine; sometimes it’s the stuff of screaming head- lines. Usually the coverage is positive or neutral; sometimes it’s negative and counterproductive. In any case, it is in the court’s best interest to be prepared for encounters with the media so that they may accurately and truth- fully represent the court to its stakeholders and proactively edu- cate and inform the public about the court’s work. The information in this handbook, which is specific to California, is geared toward the court professional designated as the media contact. The handbook is intended to provide that person with some basic knowledge of what to expect from the media (usually the news division) and what the media generally expect from the court. It provides suggestions on how best to handle media inqui- ries and presents some selected strategies for generating positive coverage. It also includes advice from experienced court infor- mation officers who have valuable insights to share. The Media Reference Kit, a companion binder, includes court forms, rules, samples, and other helpful materials. We hope that you will read through this manual for a general ori- entation and then keep it handy for future reference. We welcome your comments and suggestions on ways we can improve this publication in future editions. The Media 1 • The Media 3 ou probably have already formed some opinions of the me- Ydia based on general impressions or personal encounters. According to most research, your opinions are probably negative.