Kelli Arena and John Miller
Inside Media: Crime Reporting
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- John Miller, the FBI’s assistant director of Public Affairs, says that after J. Edgar Hoover's half-century reign as FBI Director, the office was structured to insulate the department from political pressure.
- CNN Justice Department correspondent Kelli Arena says that reporters must work hard to keep bias out of their work.
- Arena says that journalists sometimes must use information from anonymous sources, and then a journalist’s credibility can be at stake, and increasingly, the threat of jail time.
- John Miller, the FBI’s assistant director of Public Affairs, says that sources leak information for a variety of reasons, often necessitating research and negotiation.
Guests: Kelli Arena and John Miller
Reporting on an FBI investigation requires a "healthy give-and-take" between the press and the bureau, said Kelli Arena, Justice Department correspondent for CNN.
Arena and John Miller, the FBI’s assistant director for public affairs, described that working relationship as one of "mutual respect."
"The press is not here to tip off the fugitive. Our job is to bring information to the public that they need to have," said Arena, who also covered the D.C. sniper story in 2002.
Miller, formerly a correspondent for ABC News, called the public information officer’s position as "the bridge between reporters and where the information lies."
Finding the right balance between protecting an investigation and giving the press the information they need sometimes presents dilemmas.
"You’re operating in a bit of a minefield," he said. "It’s a tough place to be."
Arena explained that reporters can keep friendly relationships with people they report on — to a point.
"Does this mean that I won’t do a critical story, or that I won’t report on something that will make them uncomfortable, perhaps angry with me? Of course not," she said.
"I can assert she’s telling the accurate facts here," Miller quipped.
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