emerald
back door
Covering the capitol
from every angle
The press room in the
State capitol building was
originally a corridor, but now
the long room houses desks,
typewriters, video display
terminals, phone books, and
butt-filled ash trays Nothing
looks organized; profession
al journalists, it seems, don't
have time to be neat.
Next door, separated by a
wall, radio and television
reporters and technicians
reign in small cubicles
stocked with tape recorders,
microphones as well as
typewriters Be careful not to
trip over the 22-pound
camera resting in the hall.
"Atiyeh was clearly irritat
ed "a radio reporter
recited into a microphone
As these journalists
worked to inform the public,
comments like these and
more leaked from their lips at
the ceremonial start to the
Legislature's Special Ses
sion
The session, called by
Gov. Vic Atiyeh in an attempt
to cope with Oregon's deter
iorating economy, brought
legislators and lobbyists to
Salem in droves Naturally,
T V cameras, microphones
and pencil-pushin' reporters
followed to report the issues
facts and any additional an
tics to the waiting public
Aileen Pincus-Walker, pre
sident of the Capitol Press
Tim Kenney, a UPI correspondent, reads through wire copy
between legislative meetings.
Corps, guessed that 15 to 18
journalists regularly cover
legislative occurances Yes
terday's news brought 10
additional reporters, “not
counting the photo
graphers,” said Pincus
Walker, who freelances for
several T V. and radio sta
tions
Yesterday s ceremonial
brouhaha will die down as
the legislators dive into the
budget-cutting questions at
hand For the journalists, the
session will mean translating
the political jargon used in
committee meetings into
plain English
“Sometimes you just want
to sit up and scream, That
doesn't make any sense!' "
said Leslie Zaitz, the
Oregonian's correspondant
“One of the hardest parts
of this job is translating all
the jargon,” moaned Tim
Kenny of United Press Inter
national after a Ways and
Means Committee meeting
"Talk like real people, will
ya?" he pleaded under his
breath
Salem Statesman-Journal
writer Sue Hill estimated that
deciphering is 90 percent of
her job, adding that any beat
involves unintelligible jargon
“In general, I don’t think
we do a very good job ex
plaining to the people," she
says matter-of-factly "We
still use too much jargon
“Most of what we write is
While NBC get up to tape an Interview with Gov. Vic Atlyeh,
Oregon televlaion newt taped NBC.
not read," Hill says adding
that the monotony of state
government may be the rea
son
Legislative reporting in
volves covering long, tedious
and boring committee meet
ings Hill’s trick for finding
the story behind the motions
is to watch who walks out of
the meeting "All the deci
sions are made out in the
hall" she said "It pays to
hang out there."
"One of the most frustrat
ing things here is the lack of
immediacy," she adds On
slow news days, some legis
lators or lobbyists schedule
news conferences only to
draw attention to them
selves
"That's what this build
ing's all about — manipulat
ing the press," she said em
phatically, pounding her
finger
Don Jepsen, of the Oregon
Journal, says, “You put up
with the monotony." The
shining nuggets that
produce good copy make up
for humdrum days Henny
Willis, a journalist at the
Eugene Register-Guard,
combats the boredom by do
ing crossword puzzles and
thinking about his pay-check
Longtime capitol reporters
have also developed a cyn
ical view of government
Hill's eyes narrowed when
she discussed the subject
Zaitz shrugged his
shoulders
"You tend to get overly
cynical." Zaitz admitted,
though he said he tries to
overcome this in his news
stories He and his co-horts
channel their criticisms of
the system through analyses
and columns
Hill was more vocal
"If you brought a taxpayer
here for a day, they'd be
shocked by the way (the sys
tem) works "
By Carolyn Petrlch
Photo* by Mark Pynat
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