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June 16, 2005updated 22 Nov 2022 3:46pm

Shorthand gives Brits the edge

By Press Gazette

Shorthand skills gave British reporters a distinct advantage over
the foreign competition when it came to covering the Jackson trial.

With no recording equipment allowed in the courtroom, it was down to old-fashioned Teeline and Pitmans to get the story down.

British-owned
agency Splash News and Pictures, which is based in Los Angeles, had
reporter Graeme Massie covering the 14-week trial from start to finish.

Massie joined the agency in November from Solent News and was appointed as its resident Jackson expert.

Agency
co-owner Kevin Smith commented: “None of the Associated Press reporters
in America have shorthand – when the first copy came in from them at
the start of the trial they filed seven paragraphs. We filed five or
six pages.

“All the American guys were clamouring around Graeme to check their quotes.”

Massie found himself in demand throughout the Jackson trial as a pundit for US TV networks.

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