Reporter witness to trial history

by Adrian Medrano
Staff Writer

Linda Deutsch, a renowned court reporter for the Associated Press, spoke to University students and faculty on Tuesday in the Presidents Dining Room.

Deutsch gave a brief background about her career and talked about some of the things that she has encountered while covering court cases.

Deutsch has seen decades of interesting things such as a drugged-up courtroom audience in the Charles Manson case.

“Half the people in that courtroom were on acid trips,” Deutsch said.

Deutsch covered cases involving infamous characters such as Manson, Sirhan Sirhan, Patty Hearst and the Menendez brothers. She was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for her coverage of the O.J. Simpson trial.

“O.J. was my life for several years,” said Deutsch. “That case changed the way the media is perceived.”

Deutsch worked as the pool reporter for the case, meaning she was present in the courtroom and would let other reporters who were not allowed in the courtroom know what took place.

Deutsch said that she had a personal relationship with Simpson and that she was the only reporter whom he trusted because she never judged him on his innocence or guilt.

“O.J. was always very gentlemanly and straight forward,” Deutsch said.

The Associated Press honored Deutsch with its Oliver Gramling Reporter Award for her reporting of the Simpson trial. She also earned the University of Missouri School of Journalism’s Honor Medal for Distinguished Service in Journalism and the Society of Professional Journalists’ First Amendment Award.

“Linda is the real deal,” said senior Kenneth Todd Ruiz, president of the ULV Society of Professional Journalists chapter. “I could have listened to her stories for another hour. The more voices we hear from professionals like Linda, the more connected we feel to our field of choice.”

Deutsch has begun outlining a record of the historic trials she has covered for a book, but is currently consumed with covering today’s cases, such as the Michael Jackson trial.

She said that she is upset with the way the judge is keeping information from the media by making them pay outrageous fees for parking and access to documents.

“I always felt that we are the eyes and ears of the public,” Deutsch said. “Whatever that judge could have sealed from us, he sealed it.”

Deutsch’s first big story was the 1963 Civil Rights March, which included Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech.

“Once I saw that, I knew there was no way I could cover small events,” she said.

Deutsch grew up in New Jersey and said that she always knew that she would be a writer. Once she graduated from college she moved to California and worked for the San Bernardino Sun. She had a brief stint as a local reporter in Rialto, but the town lacked excitement.

“There was nothing going on out there,” said Deutsch. “All I saw were a bunch of tract homes.”

Deutsch quit her job with the Sun after she was forced to work as a secretary. She was later hired by the AP and has been there ever since.