On Friday I made a post about how Naegeli charged about $11.50 per page on a copy sale. This is related to an original-copy cost shifting scheme that is common in our field. Within hours of the post, Naegeli gave me an ultimatum to take down the post. If I did not take down the post by 9 PST today, they stated their attorneys would be filing an action against me. So I did what any reasonable person would do and advertised what they did on Twitter.
About 8,000 people saw it.
About 100 people liked it. And I tagged the man responsible for the Young Turks network, Cenk Uygur.
I also wrote the Better Business Bureau since Richard Teraci no longer wants me to contact him directly. Luckily, Richard was dumb enough to respond to BBB, so I learned Naegeli has no intention of suing me.
Reporters, you now see for yourselves that bullies will use all at their disposal to shut you down. If you hold firm, the bully will resort to whining. The bully’s power is derived from your self-imposed silence and restraint. The bully’s power is derived from the complicity and complacency of victims and bystanders. If we believe Richard, king of the bullies, he spoke to the other bullies, and they said STAY AWAY because the more people that find out about what is being done to court reporters, the more likely people will put a stop to it.
Don’t believe so? Just see what the general public thinks. See one man’s response to my Twitter question.
Stenographers, you are not alone. If you would take the time to send this article you’ve just read to your local news, it would go a long way to ensuring our message is heard and that the consumers being misled are given a fighting chance. Thank you.