takes place in what is called a press club, which is housed in the actual building of each prefectural police headquarters. Large police stations may also have a pressroom.
But, of course, not any old reporter has entrance to these press clubs.
What you won’t see in a reporter’s manual is how to get along with the cops, which is probably the most important thing on the police beat. I once heard the job of a police reporter characterized as being a “male geisha.” That’s actually a fair approximation of what was necessary to get a story—at least for some of us. “Male prostitute” might also be another way of putting it, but I don’t think it accurately captures the subtleties of the task involved. Some heavy entertaining is involved, but there’s a little more foreplay than a quick getting off “up against the wall.” Personally, I prefer to gather my own data and bargain with the police rather than beg for a tidbit, but that was simply my style. I was just as guilty of being a male geisha as most of my peers, except sometimes I managed to put myself into a better bargaining position: on top.
The following is a memo that a former supervisor once wrote to us reporters on the police beat. It offers great insight into the amount of schmoozing and massaging involved in our job. I will say that the guy who wrote it is an excellent reporter who is willing to do real work to get a story rather than rely on the kindness of cops he’d done favors for. Be that as it may, the man is also a brownnoser without equal.
A Memo to Whom It May Concern:
It’s really sad that I have to write the ABCs of being a police reporter down for you losers. It may have been ten years since I was last on the crime beat, but let me say this: The TMPD Club team is capable of making great war plans but not winning the battle. Don’t take this as advice from your boss, but take it as advice from your elder and a senior reporter—the job is harder than you think it is. If you just mechanically make the rounds or get by on the
Yomiuri
name, only one or two cops out of ten will leak anything to you. Maybe.
If you just aimlessly visit cops at their homes during the evening, you won’t get them to say anything. Anybody can get the addresses of detectives from their senpai [senior reporters] and go to the house, wait a couple of hours, and, when they come home, butter them up and occasionally prime the pump with tickets to a Giants baseball game. If it were just a matter of doing that over and over, even a first-year reporter at Jiji Press could do it.
I’m aware that each person on the beat tries to shore up the sections he/she is in charge of. I know that you are figuring out which cop is worth bringing into the fold, but the issue is
what
are you doing to get that cop to be a source? What are you doing to distinguish yourself from other reporters? Take a moment to reflect on your efforts.
Do you take care of the cop you want to crack? Have you asked him his birthday, place of birth, family lineage, the birthdays of his wife and kids, his wedding anniversary, when his kids start school, whether they have found a job, what holidays or special events the family has coming up? Do you say proper greetings on those occasions or, even better, bring a present?
Do you take small gifts when you call on the cops in the evening? If you take them tickets to the Yomiuri Giants game, they won’t be impressed. “Oh, he’s a reporter for the
Yomiuri
newspaper, so he probably gets them for free” is what they’ll be thinking. Go to Daimaru in Tokyo station or someplace like that and buy a regional food or drink from the area where you were born. Then tell your cop buddy, “I had someone back home send this.” Or “I brought this back from a trip for you.” Those kinds of lies are very effective. And timing is important. If you take him a warm meat pastry or a hot sweet-bean pastry on a cold day, all the better. If the cop doesn’t come
But, of course, not any old reporter has entrance to these press clubs.
What you won’t see in a reporter’s manual is how to get along with the cops, which is probably the most important thing on the police beat. I once heard the job of a police reporter characterized as being a “male geisha.” That’s actually a fair approximation of what was necessary to get a story—at least for some of us. “Male prostitute” might also be another way of putting it, but I don’t think it accurately captures the subtleties of the task involved. Some heavy entertaining is involved, but there’s a little more foreplay than a quick getting off “up against the wall.” Personally, I prefer to gather my own data and bargain with the police rather than beg for a tidbit, but that was simply my style. I was just as guilty of being a male geisha as most of my peers, except sometimes I managed to put myself into a better bargaining position: on top.
The following is a memo that a former supervisor once wrote to us reporters on the police beat. It offers great insight into the amount of schmoozing and massaging involved in our job. I will say that the guy who wrote it is an excellent reporter who is willing to do real work to get a story rather than rely on the kindness of cops he’d done favors for. Be that as it may, the man is also a brownnoser without equal.
A Memo to Whom It May Concern:
It’s really sad that I have to write the ABCs of being a police reporter down for you losers. It may have been ten years since I was last on the crime beat, but let me say this: The TMPD Club team is capable of making great war plans but not winning the battle. Don’t take this as advice from your boss, but take it as advice from your elder and a senior reporter—the job is harder than you think it is. If you just mechanically make the rounds or get by on the
Yomiuri
name, only one or two cops out of ten will leak anything to you. Maybe.
If you just aimlessly visit cops at their homes during the evening, you won’t get them to say anything. Anybody can get the addresses of detectives from their senpai [senior reporters] and go to the house, wait a couple of hours, and, when they come home, butter them up and occasionally prime the pump with tickets to a Giants baseball game. If it were just a matter of doing that over and over, even a first-year reporter at Jiji Press could do it.
I’m aware that each person on the beat tries to shore up the sections he/she is in charge of. I know that you are figuring out which cop is worth bringing into the fold, but the issue is
what
are you doing to get that cop to be a source? What are you doing to distinguish yourself from other reporters? Take a moment to reflect on your efforts.
Do you take care of the cop you want to crack? Have you asked him his birthday, place of birth, family lineage, the birthdays of his wife and kids, his wedding anniversary, when his kids start school, whether they have found a job, what holidays or special events the family has coming up? Do you say proper greetings on those occasions or, even better, bring a present?
Do you take small gifts when you call on the cops in the evening? If you take them tickets to the Yomiuri Giants game, they won’t be impressed. “Oh, he’s a reporter for the
Yomiuri
newspaper, so he probably gets them for free” is what they’ll be thinking. Go to Daimaru in Tokyo station or someplace like that and buy a regional food or drink from the area where you were born. Then tell your cop buddy, “I had someone back home send this.” Or “I brought this back from a trip for you.” Those kinds of lies are very effective. And timing is important. If you take him a warm meat pastry or a hot sweet-bean pastry on a cold day, all the better. If the cop doesn’t come
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