WebProNews » Scooter Libby

AP To Wire Libby Bloggers To Readers

WebProNews Staff — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 22:15:05 +0000

As a pair of bloggers take their media seats in the highly visible Scooter Libby trial in a Washington federal courtroom, it has been learned that the Associated Press will carry the bloggers’ trial coverage.

Gaining access to media credentials for a closely watched sensational trial in the Nation’s Capital was a nice accomplishment for Robert Cox and the Media Bloggers Association. Even better, their bloggers taking part in the media coverage will have their message distributed beyond the blogosphere.

The Association announced today that AP will distribute Media Bloggers’ take on the proceedings through AP’s wire service. The news comes just as the opening arguments in the perjury trial against Libby begin.

Cox hailed the decision by AP to carry Media Bloggers’s coverage, and called it a “milestone in the emergence of grassroots-generated journalism.”:

“The AP’s decision to redistribute MBA-bloggers’ coverage of the Libby trial to its members websites means that bloggers’ coverage of the trial will be available to the readers of more than 600 newspapers’ websites nationwide and around the world,” said Cox.

“This is a great step forward in the relationship between news bloggers and the mainstream media.”

A dozen bloggers will rotate through the trial, and provide their accounts of what happens on their blogs and on the Media Bloggers’ website. Cox told WebProNews previously that the first two bloggers to use their media credentials would be James Joyner from Outside The Beltway and Murray Waas from Crooks and Liars.

Contrary to what conventional wisdom might suggest, Cox also said in an email that there had been no overt expressions of ill will toward bloggers by the representatives of the mainstream media that he has seen. This is despite two bloggers gaining media credentials that would normally have landed in the hands of established media reporters.

—

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit | Furl

Bookmark WebProNews:

David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business.

Joyner, Waas To Blog Libby Trial

WebProNews Staff — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 15:11:18 +0000

The first two credentialed bloggers to gain access to a federal trial should begin their blogging next week, after Media Bloggers Association president Robert Cox wraps up his voir dire (jury selection) coverage.

James Joyner from Outside The Beltway and Murray Waas from Crooks and Liars will take two of the one hundred seats allocated to mainstream media when the Scooter Libby trial begins. That should start next week, according to Cox.

In an email to WebProNews, Cox noted he was covering the voir dire process. A post on his personal blog, Words In Edgewise, described what Joyner and Waas, and the bloggers to follow them, can expect in the federal courthouse:

The room set up as a media center is ideal for a blogger. There is a widescreen television displaying four feeds from the video camera – the judge, the witness box, a crossshot of both and the lawyer’s desks. The Wifi worked perfectly and I was online within a minute of getting into the room.

My plan is to be here this week to make sure that the bloggers that follow behind me have a good sense of what to expect when they arrive at the courthouse. Later I will write up a “protocol” document to share with all of the bloggers. The good news is that we get real chairs, room enough on a long table to work with a laptop, powerstrips and, of course, the WiFi. I would show you a picture but…well…they took my camera.

Recording devices are not permitted in the courtroom, as US District Judge Reggie Walton decreed in the rules of order for the case. Violating that means a likely contempt sanction from the bench.

Likewise, bloggers and other media types have to keep their credentials available, because the US Marshals may ask for them at any point. Cox said in his blog that the ones they have received are the only ones they will physically get, and if they are lost, so is access to the courtroom.

Call them bloggers, citizen journalists, or anything else, the accomplishment of gaining media access to what will be a heavily covered trial is quite a feat. Just as people follow the events of the trial, other bloggers will watch what Joyner, Waas, and others do in the setting. Get ready for some strong opinions from the blogosphere about that.

—

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit | Furl

Bookmark WebProNews:

David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business.

Bloggers Going To Libby Trial

WebProNews Staff — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 19:51:43 +0000

The Media Bloggers Association will have two seats available to its members once the Scooter Libby trial begins in Washington after the Martin Luther King holiday.

The decision by officials to set aside a pair of seats for blogging journalists out of the mere 100 available to the media in general won’t put smiles on the faces of any print media reporters, who have seen their numbers slashed in recent years amid falling revenues and budget tightening throughout the country.

It has taken a couple of years of negotiating to get to this point, according to an interview with Media Bloggers Association founder Robert Cox that appeared on the Washington Post website.

Whoever gets chosen for the plum first-time blogging seats in federal court will have considerable scrutiny. There is very little love for bloggers in the hearts of the mainstream media, the Wall Street Journal being one noteworthy example.

Any mistakes by the Media Bloggers Association’s choice of representatives will probably receive a merciless beating in newspapers, especially since those two seats at the Libby trial would have been filled by mainstream reporters in previous years.

The old days have been relegated to past, and the rotation of a couple of bloggers who know their craft well can demonstrate why they have earned that place. One court representative cited in the Post said as much:

“Bloggers can bring a depth of reporting that some traditional media organizations aren’t able to achieve because of space and time limitations,” said Sheldon Snook, administrative assistant to Chief Judge Thomas F. Hogan. Snook added that some bloggers also bring expertise that is welcome in court.

The blogging seats won’t be filled by just two people. Cox said in the report “a diverse group of bloggers” with varying political allegiances would be assembled for the case. They will rotate coverage of the trial, with Cox also giving himself some time in Federal court as well.

—

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit | Furl

Bookmark WebProNews:

David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business.