Staff profile: Meet Bethany Bruner, Columbus Dispatch courts reporter

For someone who writes hundreds, if not thousands, of words a day, I sat down to write this profile with a massive case of writer's block.

Do I thank my parents for their support and encouragement of a career that has caused me — and by extension, them — endless amounts of stress and exposure to the worst of humanity?

Do I write a love letter to the job that has given me the most amazing group of coworkers who became friends who are now family?

Do I forgo trying to write something like my colleagues have done in this space and do a basic question and answer?

Do I pretend I forgot the assignment and just not do it?

That last one sounded pretty good, but giving up easily isn't in my nature.

If I gave up the first time someone told me I couldn't get the information I was looking for, I would never be able to do the reporting I have during my six years at The Dispatch and my nearly six years before that at The Newark Advocate.

But instead of boring you with the story of how I became a reporter, here's a few things you may not know about me and my role as our courts reporter. I previously covered police and crime.

The most important title I have in my life right now is aunt. My nephew, who recently turned 1, is an absolute joy in my life. If I'm having a rough day or covering a challenging case, looking at photos or listening to videos of his adorable little laugh instantly cheer me up.

Being a sports reporter would not be a good idea for me. As much as I enjoy sports and would like being a sports reporter, I can be a bit, let's say, vocal. If you've ever sat next to me during a Columbus Blue Jackets game or watched me watching my beloved University of Connecticut women's basketball team, you would quickly understand.

I almost always have a book on me in case I have a few spare minutes. Reading is one of my favorite things to do to relax and my want-to-read list is extensive to put it mildly.

Before I had my interview at the Newark Advocate, I couldn't have found the city on a map. My dad actually drove me so I would feel more comfortable. It obviously worked since I got the job.

Being a reporter wasn't initially on my radar as a career option. I had every intention of becoming a lawyer like the ones I saw on "Law & Order" — to the extent that I had done a project putting on a mock trial in eighth grade and interviewed our local county prosecutor.

My mom pushed me into writing. As a young student, a teacher told me I needed to consider another option besides author because I wasn't that good at writing. Some advice to give a 10-year-old. By the time I got to high school, our local newspaper had a weekly teen page and my mom forced me to go to one of their monthly meetings. That experience, and some encouragement from the reporter who oversaw it, helped me find journalism.

I have had unique experiences as a reporter. Some of those experiences include sacrificing my yoga mat to get my car unstuck from a pothole at a crime scene, interviewing a Backstreet Boy and breaking international news involving a 10-year-old rape victim . My reporting has also been highlighted in the Washington Post and on an A&E show .

One of the most disheartening things about this career, aside from the awful things human beings are capable of doing to one another, is the trolling. People who are anonymous (or try to be anonymous) love to provide their unsolicited thoughts and opinions online. While I'd love to say those comments always roll off my back, I am human. The block and mute buttons are my friends.

I have lived in Ohio my entire life. I was born and raised in Springfield, went to college at Miami University and have worked in Newark and Columbus. To date, I've never been west of the Mississippi River. And I've only been on an airplane for one trip, which was in 2023.

To that end, local journalism is more important now than ever before. Without a newsroom that lives in the community it covers, how will people find out about restaurants opening and closing? Or what happened at the school board meeting? Or who won the big game Friday night?

Those things are all more important, in many respects, than what is happening on a national or international scale. Those are also things that reporters who know the community understand and can provide.

If you don't already subscribe to The Dispatch, or whatever your local newspaper is, consider it. Subscriptions cost less for a year than many streaming services and I'd be willing to wager you'll use it more.

bbruner@gannett.com

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Staff profile: Meet Bethany Bruner, Columbus Dispatch courts reporter