Bob Norman

For the Australian footballer, see Bob Norman (footballer).

Robert Creed Norman (born April 12, 1969) is a South Florida journalist who joined WPLG-Channel 10 in 2011 as an on-air investigative reporter.[1] Previously he worked for several years as a weekly newspaper and online columnist who first broke the corruption story[2] of $1 billion Ponzi scheme operator Scott Rothstein's October 27, 2009 flight to Morocco under suspicious circumstances. Rothstein, who returned to face inquiries, is a former Fort Lauderdale attorney investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and arrested on 1 December 2009. In 2008 Bob Norman reported an unusual circumstance following the murder of Melissa Britt Lewis, employee of Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler (RRA) law firm, wherein the prosecuting attorney in the Lewis murder case came to work with RRA two months[3] after the murder. Rothstein has not been connected to the murder, however murder victim Ms. Lewis had been close to Debra Villegas, RRA Chief Operating Officer, whose husband Tony Villegas was identified as the murderer by the City of Plantation Police represented by Scott Rothstein.[4]

Bob Norman, who has also exposed other public corruption such as illegal activities of Broward County, Florida public officials, formerly wrote for New Times Broward-Palm Beach, and browardpalmbeach.com[5] as well as the Miami New Times,[6] all owned by Village Voice Media. Until 2006, Norman maintained his online column The Daily Pulp (former site).[7] Norman then moved his posts to The Daily Pulp: Bob Norman's Blog on browardpalmbeach.com.[8] Norman's blog remained with New Times Broward-Palm Beach until 2011, when his blog then became part of WPLG-Channel 10's website[9]

A resident of Plantation, Florida, Bob Norman is married to South Florida Sun-Sentinel staff writer Brittany Wallman.[10] and is a graduate of the University of Kentucky. Bob Norman moved to Broward County in 1998, after working 5 years as a crime reporter in Fort Myers, Florida.[11]

Journalism awards

Bob Norman has won several journalism awards, for example 1st Place in the 2007 "Column-Political" by the Association of Alternative Weeklies,[12] the Livingston Award for Young Journalists, in National Reporting, 2001,[13] 1st Place in the Society of Professional Journalists in 2002 for Print Weekly/Monthly (Non-Deadline Reporting),[14] and 1st Place in the National Association of Black Journalists, 2005.[15]

Bob Norman's blog: The Daily Pulp

Describing his blog in 2007 as doing "fair to middling",[16] by 2009 it surged in reader engagement, based on the volume of online postings, over allegations of public corruption in Broward County School Board construction[17] which preceded the arrest, removal from office and conviction on corruption charges of former School Board Members Beverly Gallagher[18][19][20][21] and Stephanie Kraft.[22][23]

The blog format allows online readers to publicly post inside information and diverse opinions. Readers interested in news stories can review original evidence with links to court filings, emails, and videos. In respect to technology, Bob Norman's blog, the Daily Pulp, is not novel compared with competing media which typically have blogs such as the Miami Herald, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, and the Palm Beach Post. However, for those interested in politics and public corruption, in contrast to other local online media the Daily Pulp is only one click from the home page, and posting is not impeded by a registration process. Ease of blog use and focused community attention to current stories on politics and public corruption enabled Bob Norman's Blog to reach high frequency of public participation for the limited number of subjects covered. For example, in response to columns on Scott Rothstein's Ponzi scheme, readers often submitted 100-200 online postings within the first 24 hours.

According to Alexa,[24] the weekly New Times Broward-Palm Beach's browardpalmbeach.com is ranked 7,917 in web traffic rank in the U.S., compared with newspapers that cover a wider variety of subjects, ranked 797 for the daily Miami Herald's miamiherald.com, 922 for the daily South Florida Sun-Sentinel's sun-sentinel.com, and 1,919 for the Palm Beach Post's pbpost.com

Exposing Corruption

Bob Norman's articles have focused on public corruption, often with early and relentless pursuit of officials who are later arrested and removed from office, for example former Broward County Commissioner Josephus "Joe" Eggelletion[25] and former City of Deerfield Beach Mayor Al Capellini.[26]

Bob Norman has lamented staff downsizing and the weakening of traditional daily newspapers such as the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, the Miami Herald, and the Palm Beach Post, competitors to the New Times. He has offered congratulations to reporters in competing media outlets when they are prompt and accurate, and criticism when they are slow or inaccurate in exposing public corruption.

Bob Norman has criticized the connections between lobbyists and public officials, for example State Attorney Michael J. Satz,[27] elected and reelected since 1976,[28] for slow action in dealing with corrupt Broward County officials who are ultimately brought to justice by Federal investigators, including officials who have received campaign contributions from the same lobbyists as Mr. Satz.

Books

Florida Pulp Nonfiction: True crime in the Sunshine State, 2006

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Award-Winning Journalist Bob Norman Joins Local 10 News", October 26, 2011, , Retrieved December 26, 2014
  2. ↑ Bob Norman, Talk of the Town: Scott Rothstein (UPDATED), 31 October 2009, , Retrieved November 26, 2009
  3. ↑ Bob Norman, A Piece of Courthouse Gossip, , Retrieved November 29, 2009
  4. ↑ Bob Norman, Sheriff Lamberti Takes Rothstein's Pal Off Internal Affairs Post, , November 12, 2009, Retrieved November 29, 2009
  5. ↑ Bob Norman, browardpalmbeach.com, , Retrieved November 26, 2009
  6. ↑ Bob Norman, miaminewtimes.com, , Retrieved November 26, 2009
  7. ↑ Bob Norman, The Daily Pulp, , Retrieved November 26, 2009
  8. ↑ Bob Norman, The Daily Pulp: Bob Norman's Blog, , Retrieved November 26, 2009
  9. ↑ "Bob Norman's Blog", , Retrieved December 26, 2014
  10. ↑ Anonymous, About the Moms & Dads Contributors, , Retrieved November 26, 2009
  11. ↑ Anonymous, About the Author in Florida Pulp Nonfiction: True crime in the Sunshine State (Paperback), Amazon.com , Retrieved: November 26, 2009
  12. ↑ Association of Alternative Weeklies, Alternative Newsweekly Awards, above 55,000, 2007 , Retrieved: December 1, 2009
  13. ↑ Mollie Parnis Livingston Foundation, Livingston Awards 2001 Winners, for National Reporting , Retrieved: December 1, 2009
  14. ↑ Society of Professional Journalists, Green Eye Shade Winners, 2002 , Retrieved: December 1, 2009
  15. ↑ National Association of Black Journalists, Newspaper - Business, October 16, 2005 , Retrieved: December 1, 2009
  16. ↑ Anonymous, Double Trouble, South Florida Media Jobs, September 9, 2007, , Retrieved November 26, 2009
  17. ↑ Bob Norman, Say No To Notter, May 7, 2007, , Retrieved November 26, 2009
  18. ↑ Bob Norman, Inside the Arrest of Broward School Board's Beverly Gallagher, September 29, 2009, , Retrieved November 26, 2009
  19. ↑ Bob Norman Investigates Beverly Gallagher
  20. ↑ "Broward County School Board Member Sentenced On Bribery Charge", , Retrieved December 26, 2014
  21. ↑ "Disgraced School Board Member Beverly Gallagher Released From Prison", , Retrieved December 26, 2014
  22. ↑ Bob Norman Investigates Stephanie Kraft
  23. ↑ "Stephanie Kraft Guilty Of Official Misconduct", , Retrieved December 26, 2014
  24. ↑ Anonymous, Site Info from Alexa, http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/browardpalmbeach.com, Retrieved November 26, 2009
  25. ↑ Bob Norman, The Lobbyist: Broward Commissioner Josephus Eggelletion quietly pulls political strings in Lauderdale Lakes -- and personally profits in the process, December 16, 2004, , Retrieved November 26, 2009
  26. ↑ Bob Norman, The Mayor's Private Dick: Al Capellini takes the Nixon route against his rival on the commission, May 28, 2008, , Retrieved November 26, 2009
  27. ↑ Bob Norman, Johnny Come Lately Satz Charges Eggelletion With Felony, November 5, 2009, , Retrieved November 26, 2009
  28. ↑ Office of the State Attorney, 17th Judicial Circuit, Broward County, Florida, Michael J. Satz: State Attorney, September 29, 2009, , Retrieved November 29, 2009

External links

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