A New National Reporters Association

A New National Shorthand Reporters Association ~ Ten years ago would you have even given this a moment's notice? With the National Court Reporters Association's (NCRA) membership closing in on 30,000 members in 1998, a virtual jaugernaut in volunteer associations, nothing seemed impossible. That is until corporate America entered the scene.

Now, with its membership crumbling and losing nearly 1000 members a year for the past 10 years or so, it is faced with changing itself from being the representative of an honorable profession to prostituting itself to other would-be professions that are clamoring to become relevant in the business of being "Guardians of the Record."

No matter what private forum you choose, you will find disfavor running rampant with NCRA members and former members. These aren't just plain jane people we're talking about here either. People who have held office in NCRA, people who attained NCRA's highest certifications, PEOPLE WHO CARED.

There is a movement afoot to dislodge the corporate strangle hold on NCRA and to those people only the best of luck can be offered as there is no doubt on anyone's part that the current office holders and NCRA management will do their darndest to block any change.

If members and former members of NCRA want to make change and attempt to revert to what the organization stood for then they will have to become a bit more organized and thoughtful in their efforts to overtake the mountain that now stands before them. Much like a battle front, although this particular battle front has spies embedded on both sides, this confrontation will certainly take time and casualties will be littered throughout the landscape.

There is an independent movement from this avenue approach to start a new national organization. This seems be gathering traction and may well overtake what the Beagle sees as a much more difficult task of infiltrating the power structure at NCRA. Either way, there is a hard struggle ahead for NCRA.

~ The Beagle