Our Audio Files

[Kerry F]

I am interested in what people think about our audio files, public record or our work product?  I know there are differing view out there, NCRA's "opinion" that is our work product and we don't have to give it out and then I found a couple of court rulings online that judges said the reporter had to turn it over.  CA's board thinks it's our work product.  I have also heard some reporting agencies are giving the audio files to attorneys routinely.  

[Kerry F]

Oh, after a discussion at a break about something, I had an attorney state on the record for me to notify him before I deleted my audio file in case he needed it to reflect a crying witness.............., since I told him that no, I did not reflect in the transcript when the witness was crying............what is our profession coming to.

[Marge Teilhaber (TILE hobber)]

I’ve never been asked but if someone wanted my audio, I would gladly sell it, minus everything off the record, which I can fairly easily excise, and of course offer it to all parties and hope they bite.   It is only available for sale if it accompanies the order of a certified transcript.  The price should be somewhere between the cost of a copy and the cost of the original, and I'd charge a higher percentage of that pie than I do of the copy pie.  All my work is through agencies, and if an agency objected to selling my audio, that would be the end of the story and I wouldn't do it, of course.  Preliminarily I’d say an additional $3/page should be charged to the client and I would charge the agency 90% of that for each audio sale.   Again, that’s an additional surcharge contingent on certified transcript being ordered.