From an email to the President, shared with author’s permission:
The board has my confidence and my vote. I will vote AGAINST the Motion to Rescind.
After reading your article [President Karen Yate’s column in the June JCR] and your subsequent e-mail [the “Knowledge is Power” section on the NCRA website], it's just as I thought -- the motion to investigate testing of non-members/non-steno reporters is a result of what seems to me to be a thoughtful, reasonable process driven by the realities of a harsh marketplace.
I was not aware that NCRA is already testing mask/voice reporters at the insistence of some state governments, or that the Federal government had investigated NCRA because of its refusal to test non-member reporters. These are significant threats to steno reporting -- and they're not going away. Our (steno)world as we've known it has changed -- and will continue to do so -- but at least maybe NCRA can help orchestrate the changes so that they will have the least detrimental impact on us.
I just couldn't imagine that the NCRA leadership -- steno reporters like myself -- could have just gone so far off the reservation! :) Thanks to your explanations, I have a much better understanding of the position NCRA has been put in by some states and the Federal Justice Department -- and why the board wants to explore all the options. Just imagine if some other testing group becomes the approved testing entity -- the test could be designed/weighted in favor of ER!! SO much better for NCRA to retain that control, if it comes to that!
Karen, a tremendous thank you -- to you and all the other board members -- for your hard work and for your LEADERSHIP in difficult times. I am proud that NCRA has leaders who are ahead of the curve, looking for opportunities, helping to direct what happens to reporters, not just placating the members, telling them what they want to hear, and then being only able to react, maybe too late, to decisions made by others.
Marty McArver, RDR
Condado, PR
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All posts are reprinted with the author’s permission. All opinions expressed are solely those of the author.
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