Schadenfreude

The first time I tried to edit a story by Alberto Ponce de León he was standing right behind me. The second I separated his lead from the rest of the text, simply to be able to read it better, he started complaining. What changes are you going to make? What’s wrong with the lead as is? Wait, wait, wait, what are you doing again? They say first impressions are vital and this guy had definitely made one.
Alberto participated in the recent NAHJ event at UTEP, where his self-serving performance was greeted with questions not unlike "Who is this asshole?" and "Seriously, who is this asshole?" by some conference attendees. Like I said, the guy knows how to make an impression.

Who is this guy anyway?
Since I don't pay much attention to the people I don't care for, I can't remember where he came from or how he was hired. All I know is that he studied business administration and that the first time they told me about him I was a little jealous. Here was this guy, my age, who had already produced two kids and two books (fiction, of course).

Getting to know him I found him to be my least favorite type of person, a self-promoting blowhard that could barely back up what he was pedaling. He was a good writer when he wanted to, but he felt most assignments were beneath him and would treat them accordingly. He considered himself a BIG reporter and only BIG stories would do. What ultimately did him in were his two biggest weaknesses -- arrogance and laziness.
He never bothered to learn English properly -- not for the level he wanted to play at -- yet he thought he could wing it on natural talent and that "reporter's instinct" he always claimed to posses. It was only a matter of time before a certain lawyer came into his life.
Caballero told Alberto a tail of government corruption that focused on one of Diario editor Gerardo Rodriguez's favorite targets, District Attorney Jaime Esparza. Esparza was violating THE TEXAS CONSTITUTION, ladies and gentleman, through his use of the DIMS program and so far the Times had ignored this (as usual). It was up to the paragons of journalistic virtue at El Diario to uncover this travesty. Unfortunately, in their minds the fact that they might actually find something improper in the DIMS investigation was secondary. What mattered for Alberto was the glory of going up against the district attorney, for Gerardo, it was the "power" he would gain by showing he could take down a county official. Long story short, they caused a stir with the stories but ultimately it came to nothing.

How could he be so stupid?
Lazy and conceited. That's it. That's the answer.
• He couldn't stick around for the entire trial since he probably had more important things to do.
• He spoke with Crawford's lawyer, misunderstood what she said, then he didn't bother to double-check anything. Not even by turning on the TV.
• He probably invented her direct quote from bits of things she did say.

Ace reporter
One time Alberto…
• Attempted to "infiltrate" the Para de Sufrir folks, just your run-of-the-mill religious charlatans. The investigation ended after he didn't want to put up his own money to put in the collection plate.
• Attempted to follow some mysterious vans that were ferrying Chinese buffet staff from their workplace to their homes. The investigation ended when he saw he was short on gas.
• Purchased drugs to prove how easy it was to obtain them in El Paso (stop the presses!). He told Sambrano about it and Javier very nicely told him it was a crime and that he would be arrested. The investigation ended.

I could post more but it's getting late, so I'll close with this quote. Guess if it's George the pornographer from Hal Hartley's "Amateur" or Alberto Ponce de León?

"My aspiration was defamatory journalism. My big ambition in life was to get my hands on smutty pictures of the president's mistress. I wanted to undermine huge corporations. Sow the seeds of revolt by publishing the sordid details of high-level government corruption. But, you know, things happen. We drift away from our vocation."