First Draft by Tim Porter

Blogging on Sniping II: No Laptops Allowed

Ken Sands, online managing editor of the Spokesman-Review Spokane, home to a fine collection of staff-written blogs, remarks at the APME convention that the trial of sniper suspect John Allen Muhammad is prime territory for a news blog.

"You could have an AP reporter in the courtroom with a PDA and keyboard who would type in dispatches anytime anything interesting happens," Sands told the APME convention newspaper.

Kerry Sipe, an online reporter for the Virginian-Pilot is already doing what Sands suggested the Associated Press should do - a daily blog on the trial - only she's not doing it from the courtroom itself as I said yesterday.

I emailed Sipe and asked how she was filing. Here's her answer:

"I'm filing from a laptop with a wireless connection directly as I view the proceedings. The judge will not permit a laptop (let alone an Internet connection) in the courtroom itself, but I am permitted to watch a closed-circuit television connection in a room nearby. The closed-circuit is only for the press (there are 300+ here and only about 50 seats in the courtroom) and members of the victims' families. I can file without leaving my seat, which is good for the urgency of the post, but not so good on my keister. Heh-heh." (Emphasis added)

Why is a reporter using a pen and a notebook different from one using a keyboard on a laptop? Why should the latter be banned from bringing the tools of the trade into a courtroom?

Of course, he shouldn't. But the issue of the courts, technology and the press is complicated and unresolved. Some courts allows cameras. Others do not. Some judges have banned cell phones, fearing digital recording or photographing (Check that Nokia at the door, son).

The right to use laptops in court, the wiring of courthouses so reporters can file live, these issues will be fought one case at a time, just as the issue of cameras has.

Until then, we have Kerry Sipe's solution, which is more real-time access than the public has had previously in high-profile trials.

Links
 APME Gazette Blogging has its fans and foes
 Virginian-Pilot Journal: Muhammad trial updates

Posted by Tim Porter at October 17, 2003 07:58 AM