Rumors in the Digital Age

As an Eclipse scopist, I occasionally share PSAs on my Facebook page on various subjects that arise from my experiences in this business. After a recent post, I received a question from, and responded to, Isaiah Paul Roberts, a reporter who is a Facebook friend.  I am taking the liberty of sharing it here as I did in Court Reporters of Facebook, Court Reporters Vent Uncensored, and Court Reporters Vent Here. Here goes: Isaiah Paul Roberts:  Wait, I'm confused. Aren't you an advocate for digital reporting? While I'm glad to hear you talk about respect for the record and not thinking that reporters should rely on their audio -- of which I would agree -- aren't you advocating that the entire record/transcript can be adequately produced from a mere audio recording?   Linda Lee:  I’m glad you asked, Isaiah. No, I am not an advocate for digital reporting. That is a vicious, slanderous rumor that continues to be shared in reporter circles. I have never and will never train digitals. Steno is the gold standard of reporting. I scope for stenos and am also the person behind BriefReliefBook.com, whose mission is to create briefs and other resources that help stenos write shorter, faster, and smarter. That is my passion. And training digitals certainly doesn’t mesh with the brand. But the truth doesn’t matter. Rather than just reach out to ask me, some reporters drew that conclusion merely because of my having coached students in the scopist track of PAF Training Programs, operated by Patricia A. Falls, veteran steno and mother of a soon-to-be one, which is now The Court Reporting Academy. Patricia corrected the record in a thread on my page when someone else brought up the rumor. Some reporters also apparently have an issue with me (I know this from friends who messaged to inform me of this) because I do not share their pathological hatred for digitals and others in the business, to include voice reporters and “reporter flunkies,” a perjorative that a reporter used instead of “scopists.” Thus my acceptance of the fact that digitals exist is used by some to justify the rumor that I train them. Unless you believe, as a reporter stated recently in one of the forums, that “Digitals are the gum beneath my shoe," you're perceived as the enemy. You find out who your friends are when push comes to shove. But God has my back, and haters reap what they sow.w.