New breed?

Random thought, probably wrong.

The Sammy trial is giving birth to a new breed of journalists in the same way that Watergate and OJ caused major shifts in the field.

The new breed has to get along without all their usual hardware, which is banned in the courtroom. They watch the trial, some in the main room and some in the ‘overflow room’ via closed-circuit TV. They can’t take notes or send photos via their devices; they have to take notes and draw sketches on PAPER, and they have to leave the court during breaks and call in their reports just like old-fashioned reporters rushing to the phone booths.

Most of these new folks are NOT trained journalists. They haven’t been stupefied by the indoctrination of journalism schools. They’re lawyers or finance experts or just plain humans.

Several personalities are emerging.

First is the inimitable Tiffany Fong, who puts all of her foibles and intensely female hormones** on display. She’s drinking and smoking (well, vaping) on camera, both forbidden since the ’50s. She moans about her craziness and failed romances, and simultaneously gives us clear and concise descriptions of the facts and personalities.

Laura Shin is more traditional and restrained, but also gets a bit personal in her short pieces.

Nikhilesh De is a tech lawyer who took advantage of the paper-only setup to make memorably awful sketches, which his colleagues proudly critique as serious timeless art.

All of them are sharp and witty and smart, another set of qualities forbidden since the ’50s.

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** In an era when mxns are womxns and womxns are mxns, a full-fledged purebred WOMAN has power, and Tiff knows it.