Los Angeles County Reporters Push Back on Court Reporter Shortage Narrative

The only question I had upon reading a recent article about LA was whether David Slayton, Los Angeles county executive/clerk of court for the Superior Court of Los Angeles County is ignorant or a talented liar.

It’s not too farfetched, at this point in history, to believe that maybe some people in official positions are ignoring the reality of the court reporter shortage fraud and the indelible fact that private money was used to exaggerate and exacerbate the stenographer shortage. Arizona officials more or less ignored us. Officials from New York and the FTC have ignored us. The attorney general of California ignored us. Texas and California both ignore their own licensing laws in favor of screwing the working reporter. Everyone in government seems to believe that if a fact is ignored it becomes less factual.

And in fact, that’s what the sham of a journalist, Makenna Sievertson, seems to believe as well, with her headline that pretends that court officials really are doing everything in their power to help the shortage. I have no problem, at this point in history, putting it out there that any journalist or outlet that ignores the court reporter shortage fraud in favor of the shortage narrative is a corporate shill unfit to publish fiction, let alone news. Many of my contemporaries would cringe at me making an enemy of media. But I have news for you: Media has been our enemy for years. I’ve spoken to several journalists and they either don’t run the story (understandable), publish about the shortage and omit the fraud claims (questionable), or engage in “journalistic equalizing” at the expense of the truth (unforgivable). I’m fed up. I’m done playing games. Any journalist that fails to mention the fraud that the whole world can Google will find themselves deservedly on the receiving end of my ire. (Google: Veritext fraud, court reporter shortage fraud, digital court reporting scam, or Speech-to-Text Institute.)

This isn’t particularly hard. The government doesn’t have to broadcast that there was a fraud perpetrated. All they have to do is look at the cold, hard truth. A shortage was forecasted over a decade ago. Several large corporations got together behind the Speech-to-Text Institute about 5 years ago and republished modern materials about the shortage forecast without adjusting for all the things we’ve done since to address the shortage, such as the A to Z program, Project Steno, and Open Steno. Then, after being publicly accused of fraud, their frontman Jim Cudahy jumped ship, the organization was sued, their website was shut down, and Stenograph’s then-president publicly distanced himself from the organization. Conveniently documented in real time by yours truly.

And so, to David Slayton and all of the other sand spiders with their fingers in their ears, how about you spend a little less time running to the media about how bad the shortage is, which is obviously a bid to push us out for your beloved audio recorders, pick up the damn phone, and use your office to get some attention on the obvious fraud committed that’s making your recruitment efforts so hard? I’m sure you’ll concede that there ARE executive agencies meant to deal with such things. I’m sure you’ll concede that those agencies DO give more weight to complaints from people like YOU than people like me. And unless you have a financial interest in those recording companies, there’s no real reason for you not to step in and do the right thing other than your own cowardice.

I’m not alone. There are people like me, like Protect Your Record Project in California, Jackie Mentecky in Florida, and all of their supporters, who have raised concerns about the validity of the shortage claims as they were presented to the public by these private equity corporations I blog about.

Let me make something clear. People like me — that is to say, average working people and their families — have the power to take on organizations with millions of dollars. You deny the truth at your own peril. At the end of the day, people are not stupid, and they will see through your shallow words about people’s families for the fact that you’ve done precious little to make a difference for those same families. And when they see through that, perhaps you should not be allowed to keep your position, and be replaced by someone with the mettle required to do right and be good.

And to the court reporters and average people that want to get serious about engaging with professional liars in government and beyond, consider a donation to Stenonymous today via the donation box on the front page, Venmo @Stenonymous, or PayPal / Zelle at ChristopherDay227@gmail.com. At the end of the day, my effectiveness is linked to your financial support, information you share, and the sharing of my work. American journalism and media is very much pay to play, and I think it’s about time we get in the game and win. If not for ourselves, then for the many millions of people whose views are not represented by corporate media. What we are writing is a blueprint for many to follow. Where that will lead?

I aim to find out.