Letter of Recommendation From Professor Deborah Nelson (JOUR400-Media Law)

PHILIP MERRILL COLLEGE of JOURNALISM 1100 Knight Hall University of Maryland University of Maryland College Park, MD 20742-1117 www.merrill.umd.edu August 25, 2015 Re: Letter of recommendation for Tisha Lim Tisha Lim enrolled in my Media Law class in the Spring 2015 semester. It’s one of the most challenging courses in a very demanding program at one of the top journalism schools in the country. In addition to the usual battery of tests and papers, students are required to research, file and negotiate public records requests for a class journalism project. Tisha aced the course and she was a standout in a large class on the public records project. During her semester, students sought arrest reports for human trafficking and prostitution from local law enforcement agencies. Tisha was assigned one of the most important county police departments – and the most notorious for refusing to provide public information to the news media. She didn’t let that intimidate her. When police officials countered her request with a large fee demand, she politely responded with a strong argument for a fee waiver. When they shifted course to argue that the request would take too long to fill, she responded by modifying the request to address their concerns. Ultimately, she didn’t receive the reports – but, through her persistence, she obtained a statistical breakdown of cases that no one else, including the county’s own human trafficking task force, had been able to get from the police. A little background on me: I’m a Pulitzer Prizewinning journalist. Prior to joining academia in 2006, I was Washington investigations editor at the LA Times and an editor and reporter at the Washington Post. Now as Tisha’s professor, I am confident in recommending her for any job that requires resourcefulness, persistence, attention to detail and teamwork. Best regards, Deborah Nelson, J.D. Associate Professor of Investigative Journalism 3017063530 [email protected]

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JOUR400—Media Law

Transcript of Letter of Recommendation From Professor Deborah Nelson (JOUR400-Media Law)

PHILIP MERRILL COLLEGE of JOURNALISM

1100 Knight Hall University of Maryland University of Maryland College Park, MD 20742-1117 www.merrill.umd.edu

August 25, 2015

Re: Letter of recommendation for Tisha Lim

Tisha Lim enrolled in my Media Law class in the Spring 2015 semester. It’s one of the most challenging courses in a very demanding program at one of the top journalism schools in the country. In addition to the usual battery of tests and papers, students are required to research, file and negotiate public records requests for a class journalism project.

Tisha aced the course -‐-‐ and she was a standout in a large class on the public records project. During her semester, students sought arrest reports for human trafficking and prostitution from local law enforcement agencies. Tisha was assigned one of the most important county police departments – and the most notorious for refusing to provide public information to the news media. She didn’t let that intimidate her. When police officials countered her request with a large fee demand, she politely responded with a strong argument for a fee waiver. When they shifted course to argue that the request would take too long to fill, she responded by modifying the request to address their concerns. Ultimately, she didn’t receive the reports – but, through her persistence, she obtained a statistical breakdown of cases that no one else, including the county’s own human trafficking task force, had been able to get from the police.

A little background on me: I’m a Pulitzer Prize-‐winning journalist. Prior to joining academia in 2006, I was Washington investigations editor at the LA Times and an editor and reporter at the Washington Post. Now as Tisha’s professor, I am confident in recommending her for any job that requires resourcefulness, persistence, attention to detail and teamwork.

Best regards,

Deborah Nelson, J.D. Associate Professor of Investigative Journalism 301-‐706-‐3530 [email protected]