NorthPark is Safe … From Journalists
Reporter Josh Hixson was dispatched to NorthPark Center to look into the ATM theft at Nordstrom. Here’s what he found:
After taking a look at the scene of the crime near Nordstrom’s east entrance, I ventured into the mall to find some patrons willing to share their opinions on the third high profile crime to hit NorthPark in three months.
I talked to a nice woman and her daughter for all of two seconds before mall security was looking over my shoulder at my reporter’s notepad.
Brett Holbrook, a security guard at NorthPark, required backup to inform me of the following:
“We don’t allow any type of reporters here at all from sidewalk to sidewalk,” Holbrook said in a voice that sounded more like ‘We don’t take kindly to your type ’round here.’
Then he kind of stood in my way. I say “kind of “because it’s never wise to test the limits of someone who dresses up and acts like a cop for a living. And it’s also really hard to write a story from the back of a squad car.
So, being the nosy reporter I am, I headed back into Nordstrom and looked for my next interview.
After a 20-second conversation with a nice gentleman from Waxahachie, I was approached by a guy named “Gary.”
Gary happened to be with management at Nordstrom. He told me to get lost. As he escorted me from the premises, he shared Nordstrom’s philosophy on the first amendment.
“We care about freedom of press and all that. We just don’t want you disturbing our customers,” He said.
When a security guard drove slowly by my car in the parking lot and read my license plate number into his radio, it only served to reinforce what my reporting skills had led me to deduce earlier:
All those mall customers who live in constant fear of being ambushed by rogue reporters; have no fear, because NorthPark is here.
Wow. I hate to say it but I think I’m mad at Nordstrom’s.
You know, I think that policy needs to be recited to the PR people the next time they call, asking for some coverage at NorthPark. IJS
“Will you come cover our trains/fashion show/store ribbon cutting?”
“I’m sorry, but you don’t allow any type of reporters here at all from sidewalk to sidewalk.”
Thank god community newspaper writers are being kept out of NorthPark. Clearly, they are dangerous. Way more dangerous than armed robbers who shoot people in the face, thieves who smash glass and steal jewelry in the middle of the day and burglars who haul away ATM machines and burn cars in the night.
It’s those young journalists trying to understand the circumstances of a crime that should be kept away from popular shopping malls — they might hurt someone.
Or someone’s bottom line.
I understand this reporter trying to make a name for himself but he really should quote the circumstances the way they happen. He is notorius for misquoting people he interviews. I noticed nothing but polite and courteous conversation between the reporter and the security guard. It is a shame that people trying to do their job gets slandered in such a way. I think North Park is a world class mall.
I don’t believe Josh was concerned so much about the tone of anything that was said to him by Nordstrom and mall security staff as he was put off by the notion that he could be kicked out simply for having a conversation with another person in the store. Josh was not harassing customers. He was merely having a chat. Why stores like Nordstrom are threatened by such actions is something that we in the media find perplexing.
I don’t think “threatened” is the word — they don’t want their customers distracted from shopping. And that’s reasonable. And I’m sure they like to control anything that gets printed about their stores — and probably prefer to draft it.
It’s their place, and they’re within their rights to ask you to practice your profession somewhere else. And as Bethany points out, it’s also completely reasonable for you to decline to practice your profession only under their terms, at the times they request. Start ignoring their press releases and local events, and they’ll catch on.
They are certainly within their rights to ask us to leave their store.
But all of us are allowed to do a lot of dumb things that are within our rights.
Treating a reporter asking a few questions like a criminal threat, as the rent-a-cops at NorthPark did, qualifies as pretty dumb.
Sounds like Nordstrom’s/NorthPark were profiling. Nice young men with notepad and pencil asking people questions must be what gets the attention of managers and security alike. I wonder if they do the same thing to nice young men with microphones in their hands standing in front of a camera hooked up to a van with a 40 foot microwave antenna?
Um, so did no one think about the fact that he could have stood outside the Nordstrom and talked to people? I know it’s hot, but the police definitely have no legal right to kick you out of the parking lot, right? People are always going to hate “the media,” unfortunately. But with a little creativity, you can get around it and get a good story… or as good a story you can get that hinges on ‘joe on the street’ interviews.
Distracting someone from shopping? If that’s the case any time you stop to have a conversation with anyone in the mall you are committing the same offense – should we not stop a stranger and ask for directions to the food court? I think not. I am certain that the reporter first asked for consent before engaging in the interview and he was not hounding/bothering the interviewees – that would just be bad journalism for this type of questioning. This is a case where the mall needs to understand that the rent-a-cops are their primary front-line PR folks; train them to not only act as security guards but also be “the face” of NorthPark - i.e. the only NorthPark employees we ever really see and interface with. NorthPark certainly shouldn’t risk any more bad press… they have enough on their plate to deal with right now.
Well the mall is private property as is Nordstrom’s so it seems to me that they have the right not to want people questioning everything that happens. Also, a large portion of reporters just get the wrong facts or exaggerate them anyway so it makes sense they wouldn’t want prying eyes watching everything going on and making everyone overreact to situations. I know there is no advertising anything on that property from seeing someone not be able to hand out fliers on day and this is the same. It could be thought of as a form of advertising. If Nordstrom’s was getting a cut of what the newspaper made on the article then maybe they would be more inclined to allow reporters to bother their customers.