The biggest thing I learned from Tim Nickens involved public officials and the use of public records. I learned that when public officials are running for office, except state legislature, reporters use public records to “check” on the officials.
One of the stories that Mr. Nickens talked that I from interesting involved one official who switched parties and didn’t vote as much as she should of. However, the main story Mr. Nickens discussed about the Tallahassee reporter and the man running for Speaker of the House was the most intriguing. I found that by the reporter digging deeper and deeper he was unable to uncover a ton of money, which the official and the Community College President were trying to cover up.
I learned many things from this story, two of them are, officials have found loop holes in the Sunshine Laws pertaining to meetings and you can’t deny public records. The loop hole in the meeting was when the public official made all of the legal steps towards having a meeting, but did it 90 miles away in a private suite. Hearing Mr. Nickens say that opened my eyes to how laws can be twisted by officials who know how to get around them.
The second important thing I learned was that public records do not lie. By using the public records that are available to reporters the reporting done can be accurate and not disputed. The reporter was able to use the public records to find out what all the money was used for.
By having public records at our disposal we are able to look up almost anything on anyone. This allows us to double check want public official may tell us, it also allows reporters to report to the community what they deserve to hear.
