Document Actions
Sine Die: A thank-you note
posted at 2010-07-10 23:44 | Last modified 2010-07-11 00:04
Sine die, for non-political geeks, is Latin for “without day” - the end, for-real-and-we-mean-it, of the biennial session. It’s a crazy train. On top of the usual end-of-session madness, you’ve got those who a) want a bill they can run on this fall, or b) aren’t coming back and want to leave a legacy.
Add long speeches and late nights, and it’s a recipe for last-minute deals and more gut-and-amend antics than you can shake a stick at. They don’t call it “Sneak Week” for nothing.
For lawmakers, it’s bittersweet. Some won’t come back because they’ve chosen not to. Others have already lost primaries. We had a LOT of goodbyes of this year.
As I listened to their farewell speeches last night, I couldn’t help but reflect that the NC Capitol Press Corps has seen way too many goodbyes of late, too: Eric, Mark S., David, Sharif, Margaret, Kerra, Ryan, Steve, Whitney, Paul, John, James, Jordan, Matt, Mark J. Too many names entirely.
At my first NC Sine Die in 2004, the press corps was 20-something strong. Reporters and photogs fought over scoops, raced each other up the stairs, and went in on pizzas in the wee hours.
This year, at 2am, during the hottest debate of the session, there were eight of us scattered in a press room lined with mostly empty desks. Gary Robertson, AP. Mark Binker, Greensboro. Barry Smith, Freedom. Josh Ellis, Curtis Media. Ben Niolet and Dan Kane, N&O. Scott Mooneyham, Insider. And me. Fewer than one per million people in this state.
The competitive urge is still there in spades, but it’s different these days. We’ve learned to work together because, after round after round of cuts in the industry, we have to. Cooperation is the only way 8 people can keep tabs on 170 legislators, ad hoc committee meetings, and the dozens of floor amendments that fly by in a 19-hour session.
We use Twitter to let each other know where we are and what’s happening. We share what documents and photos and audio we get, and bill histories and fiscal notes, and, most importantly, we share what we know when some bill no one else has been following suddenly takes center stage.
In the “good old days,” it was all about the scoop - the exclusive story no one else had. We all still want that. But delivering important information to our audiences is more important than our egos. And when there aren’t enough bodies to go around, collaboration not only can co-exist with competition -- it has to.
So consider this a heartfelt thank-you note to the folks I listed above, and the handful more that come in and out of the press room on any given day. You guys make long days, dumb debates, and bad coffee seem like the best job in the world. I don’t know how I’d do it without you.
Comments? Drop me a line.
& Newsletters
