Going to Jail

It was my first job in television. I was in my twenties, and the sports director at KVIQ in Eureka California. There's actually a clip of me from back then on You Tube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wii5u2hIeA8&mode=related&search=

Like most small markets I did other jobs too. I was the camera operator for our public affairs show. I also shot and edited all of the video used in my sportscasts. But I also got out to do news stories at times. One of those stories was about a couple of brothers spending Christmas together. The spin, they were spending Christmas together in jail. I can't remember the crimes they committed, but they weren't serious criminals. They were hapless sorts like the guys in "O Brother Where Art Thou" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0190590/

I thought it was a pretty good story. But the authorities had another opinion. I came outside of my apartment the next day and jumped in my car. That's when I spotted the cruiser parked across the street. I didn't think anything of it. I turned right and proceeded down the road. The cruiser did a u turn and ended up right behind me. The lights came on shortly there after. I couldn't figure out what crime I had committed. Minutes later I was in cuffs and on my way to jail.

In case you are wondering I had neglected to pay a parking ticket in Riverside California some years earlier. There was an outstanding warrant for my arrest. Outstanding in the sense that the local authorities had found this ticket that I couldn't even remember. Now they were hauling me off to jail. On the ride to jail the man in uniform let me know that he and his colleagues didn't like my story. He pointed out that this way my lucky day! Since I liked people in jail so much now I was going to get my chance to join them.

My girlfriend at the time saw me being hauled off to jail and followed. Inside the jail, the handcuffs were removed, along with my belt, and necktie. I was placed in the holding cell. When I asked why I had to take off the necktie and belt they told me they didn't want me committing suicide. By the way there's a happy ending to this story. It took a while, but my girlfriend was able to get the money to spring me from jail before I went into the general population.

So why am I writing about this? Two points really, the first is always pay your traffic tickets! The second is this, in that brief time I was in jail I learned I never wanted to go back. Yet throughout my career there have been times when I have promised sources that I would protect their identity, knowing full well what that meant.

In recent years other reporters who have made that pledge have landed in jail. Judith Miller spent 85 days behind bars protecting a source in the Valerie Plame identity leak case. Jim Tancani didn't get the headlines that Miller did, but he also spent time behind bars. This morning I'll be the moderator at a forum at the Capital Hyatt looking at the issue of a National Shield Law for journalists. Jim will tell his story, and we'll hear from the experts. It is all part of the Society of Professional Journalists session taking place here in Washington D.C.. So if you are in the area stop by. It starts at 11am. If you can't make it, don't worry about it, I'll blog about it on Monday.