Do reporters treat scopists fairly?

[Rachael Louise Hall]

I am an experienced reporter who has been scoping recently for some heavy-hitter reporters, but I was wondering how the not-so-good reporters treat the scopists that help them.   Please do not name anyone personally, but feel free to vent.

[Tracy A Cortesi]

Having been a proofreader, scopist, reporter, scopist, I think that every aspect of all parts of this job have been challenging and rewarding.  20+years in this field is a long time, it's not a four-month course on the internet about how to be a scopist, it's time, effort, dedication, commitment, and rewards.  It takes time to develop a rapport with a reporter/scopist.  It takes communication of expectations, as well as continuing education.  But most importantly, it takes respect....respect for the stress the reporter is under, respect for the stress the scopist is under, and respect for one another's knowledge and experience they bring to their work.  Oftentimes, I've been treated as someone who's to do what I'm told, and my suggestions not valued because I'm a "scopist."  When I say that in the past I was a reporter and for personal reasons have chosen to stay in the editing portion of this career, then I might receive a little more respect.  But a scopist's job is to meet her deadlines, meet her client's expectations and hopefully exceed them, and finally to strive for excellence, along with flexibility and responsibility.  The best way to receive respect is to give it. :)

[Phil]

I love my scopist and I treat her like gold.   Because she is.   Many a time she's pulled my ass out of the fire so that I can have a life.  While it is slower now - and I am sorry that I cannot send her as much work -- as soon as it ramps up again she is going to get it.   She gets my work out on time, and does a great job.   Communication is key.  They're not mind readers.   If you want something a certain way, TELL THEM.   A good scopist will work the way you want them to, not fight you.  And sometimes you might be open to the idea that you might be wrong and they might be right.   There's plenty of I'm a court reporter therefore everything I do couldn't be wrong.   And we need to get over it.

[D Sanders, RDR, CRR]

I have a lot to say in my recent find-a-good, reasonably priced scopist debacle but I will only say this - how disappointed I am that scopists don't want to learn anything new.  The excuses range from "I don't have time to learn anything new" to "I've had time to think" that translates into no.  They don't even know what it is that I'm talking about or if I say it, they automatically think it's something that's too time consuming....

 

OR they go the other direction and want to rewrite the transcript based on how "they" do it. I actually had one scopist change 600 to six hundred and (Break.) to (Whereupon a recess was taken) and the scopist didn't understand why I was upset about it.  That's just two examples.  After reading 50 pages, I told the scopist to stop.  Just stop.  When I told the scopist about this, the words to me were something like: Usually the reporters like what I do and consider it an improvement.

 

Bottom line, communication is key and a good attitude is a must.  I gave up a recent scopist that was very good bc she couldn't communicate with me, blew my deadline and then didn't follow my instructions.  And what hurt the most was she was a reporter herself!

[Kelli Combs (admin)]

I consider myself a very good reporter, but I've had my issues with scopists.  Maybe they were the bad apples.  As Laurie says, that's just life.  There are some great scopists out there and you just have to keep searching for them. 

I know a lot of times scopists don't like criticism.  If there are mistakes or stuff I don't like, I have to let the scopist know; that's what I'm paying them for is to scope my transcripts the way I like it done.  I don't think it comes down to the "not-so-good reporters" that are the problem.   I think it's generally a lack of communication. 

I've had more than a few scopists take my work and then never contact me again; not answer email or phone calls.  I've had scopists take my work and then never return it because they had some disaster happen of all sorts; i.e., the dog ate my homework. 

In the end, I just want a great scopist (like Laurie is below, BTW) that cares about their job as much as I do.  That must be a tall order!

[Laurie H.]

I'm not sure inviting a vent-fest is the appropriate way to go.  Wouldn't it be more productive to talk about how to improve relationships?

I work with a great bunch of reporters.  I think both sides get back what they put into the relationship, as with anything in life.  Sure, there's a bad apple here and there, but that, too, is just life...