Excerpts about his relationship with law enforcement from Jack Nelson's memoir, "Scoop: The Evolution of a Southern Reporter"

scoop.txt

Dressed in drag in Biloxi (p. 33):

In those days most newspapermen, especially in small towns, didn't
worry too much about possible conflicts of interest. At the Herald such
conflicts were everyday occurances. I was in so tight with the police that
they once used me as a decoy to help them find a man who had been beating 
up prostitutes. Outfitted in a tight skirt, sandals, and a wig, I
walked along the beach, swinging my purse, until the man accosted me.
The cops promptly arrested him and I went back to the Herald and wrote
a story about the arrest.

Covering the race beat in the 1960s (p. 108):

In that extraordinary cauldron in which we were operating, we willingly,
even eagerly, broke the newsman's tradition of trying to keep an
arm's-length distance from government officials we were covering. This
was especially true of our relationship to the attorneys in the Justice
Department's Civil Rights Division. Normally, government attorneys are
circumspect in dealing with reporters, but the division attorneys viewed
the press as a valuable ally in curbing lawlessness and injustices, and
they rightly saw us as an asset in building national support for their
efforts.

Their cooperation with us sometimes went so far as to include disclosing
information they might normally consider confidential. We, in turn, traded
leads and tips with attorneys. They lawyers also earned the gratitude of
journalists who felt safer just knowing they were around when violence was
threatening.

Buy the book here: http://www.amazon.com/Scoop-The-Evolution-Southern-Reporter/dp/1617036587