Kudos to Maria Garcia of ABC-7

I have the advantage of spending a large part of my day on the internet as part of my job and that means I get to spend a lot of time on the internet.

I was on the air the other day when I saw the story break on The El Paso Times regarding the summons of Mayor Cook and City Manager Joyce Wilson to the court house to testify in a court case involving a client of Theresa Caballero.

I read the short blurb of the story on the El Paso Times website, but I also saw a piece on the story on ABC 7’s website as well. The story on ABC-7, written by reporter Maria Garcia, was much more developed, while the Times just had a small blurb.

We are talking about two types of media, print versus television. The Times’ story won’t be printed until tomorrow, while the television stations will be able to get the report out to viewers in at least three broadcasts before the Times’ story is even seen.

The Times has the advantage of being more thorough in the story because they don’t have the limitations of time, though there is often a limitation related to space.
But online, the two forms of media are pretty comparable. The internet is the great equalizer.

And on that side-by-side comparison, I think Garcia’s piece out classed her more experienced colleague from the Times.

But where I think Garcia did particularly well was in the actual courthouse. She did something that too many in the media around here are afraid to do. She put a microphone in Caballero’s face, asked her fair questions, didn’t take no for an answer, and followed her around trying to get the story.

In my humble opinion, far too many people have been scared off by Caballero’s self-generated mystique.

That’s why it was so refreshing to see a reporter like Maria Garcia who isn’t intimidated by Caballero and does her job. Sooner or later, other reporters in town will also wake up.