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Contracting
The Issue
Exclusive third-party contracting arrangements between court reporters and large organizations who are often parties to civil cases, such as insurance companies, bring into question the impartiality of the court reporter, one of the cornerstones of the profession.
Categories:
Advocacy
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Sample Phone Script
Hello, my name is _____ and I am a (court reporter, captioner, legal videographer, scopist, firm owner, etc.) in your district. May I please speak to the staff person who handles _________ (relevant topic area of the prospective legislation, i.e., appropriations or educational issues) for the Congressman/Congresswoman/Senator?
Reintroduce yourself to the staffer.
I am calling today to ask Congres…
Categories:
Advocacy
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Talking with Legislators on the Phone
Important techniques for communicating with your legislators over the phone
Always identify yourself as a constituent.
Ask for the staff person who handles the legislative issue that you are calling about. For instance, if you are calling regarding prospective education legislation, you should ask for the staff person who handles the education portfolio, likely the Education Legislative…
Categories:
Advocacy
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Writing Effective Letters and Emails to Your Legislators
Government representatives are increasingly responsive and reliant on input and suggestions from their constituents. The most direct way of making an impact is through a letter-writing or email-writing campaign. The more letters or emails that a legislator receives, the more important the issue becomes.
Even with noncontroversial issues, it is important to write letters or emails because, if there…
Categories:
Advocacy
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Writing an Effective Letter to the Editor
How to Write an Effective Letter to the Editor
Write your letter immediately. Timeliness is imperative.
Make sure you have read the entire article before writing your letter. Include the title, date, and author in your letter, preferably in the first sentence.
Use the pyramid style — your most important fact and conclusion comes first and your least important fact and conclusion…
Categories:
Advocacy
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Do's & Don'ts When Dealing with Legislators
DO
Visit your elected legislator’s office and bring a constituent(s) who is represented by the specific legislator.
Know your legislative issue or prospective legislation.
Be polite and respectful to everyone in the office, including both staff and legislators.
Be flexible with the meeting location. Sometimes legislators or staff only have a moment to meet in a hallway rather…
Categories:
Advocacy
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Censorship and Captioning
By Gary Robson
Censorship and the First Amendment may be one of the most misunderstood concepts in America today. In the context of television, it is now tightly interwoven with closed captioning in several ways.
To understand the issue, let's start with the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. It states, "Congress shall make no law ... abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press."
The k…
Categories:
Captioning, Advocacy
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Student Shortage
To combat the issue of student shortages and to respond to the increasing demand for reporters who are realtime trained, NCRA has taken a multifaceted hands-on approach to advancing education for court reporters. NCRA's efforts have led to a dramatic improvement, with student enrollment increasing almost 38 percent at NCRA-approved programs after an almost decade-long decline in enrollment.
Outrea…
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Advocacy, Schools
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Who is Using ER?
How does digital recording work?
The use of recording equipment to produce a record of legal proceedings has evolved over its history. The systems are no longer just analog tape systems that capture all the voices onto one tape. They have evolved into digital audio recording systems that utilize multiple channels and are capable of recording each individual who is speaking on a different trac…
Categories:
Advocacy
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NCRA Sponsored Electronic and Digital Audio Recording Studies
Over the past 20 years, members have grown increasingly concerned about the inroads made by electronic and digital recording within the legal system. Due to this interest, NCRA has commissioned studies on this topic from time to time.
In 1992, NCRA commissioned a study from the Justice Research Institute (JRI), an independent judicial research group. Given the state of technology and prevailing co…
Categories:
Advocacy