The Best time to Ask is When You're Told Not To

There's something I can't stand when I'm covering a news event: when people tell me I can't ask questions and don't expect to get any answers.

When I hear that, that just gives me even more incentive to start asking questions.

This happened this past week when I was covering Manny Aragon's guilty plea at court.

Just before Aragon gave his on-the-verge-of-sobbing statement outside the courthouse, his attorney, Ray Twohig, said Aragon would make a brief statement and then would not take any questions.

When someone doesn't want to answer questions, this means they will likely say so much more by not answering them, either by getting upset or just ignoring you.

So after Aragon gave his statement, I followed him, asking him questions which really ticked him off along with his attorneys.

I didn't acknowledge them when they responded to my questions with statements like, "We said no questions," and "Is this confusing to you Mr. Jojola" and "Don't you understand English?"

I clearly do understand English. But what people understand so much more at home is body language and avoidance.

Thank you Manny for not answering my questions. You said so much more.
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