Court reporters and captioners rely on the latest in technology to use stenographic machines to capture the spoken word and translate it into written text in real time. These professionals work both in and out of the courtroom reporting legal cases and depositions, providing live captioning of events, and assisting members of the deaf and hard-of-hearing communities with gaining access to information, entertainment, educational opportunities, and more.
Forbes has named court reporting as one of the best career options that do not require a traditional four-year degree. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the court reporting field is expected to be one of the fastest areas of projected employment growth across all occupations. According to 247/WallSt.com, the court reporting profession ranks sixth out of 25 careers with the lowest unemployment rate, just 0.7 percent. Career information about the court reporting profession—one of the leading career options that does not require a traditional four-year degree—can be found at NCRA DiscoverSteno.org.
Included below are some fun and interesting facts about the stenographic captioning and court reporting profession:
· Capturing the record of important proceedings dates back to the fourth century B.C.
· The ampersand (&) is one of the earliest forms of shorthand.
· There are official court reporters who are employees of the court, freelance deposition reporters, broadcast captioners, and CART captioners (Communications Access Realtime Translation — often employed in classroom settings to assist students who are deaf and hard of hearing).
· In an emergency situation, broadcast captioners can provide vital information to 50 million Americans who are deaf and hard of hearing.
· There is a steady need for more stenographic court reporters and captioners to fill positions across the nation.