Searching for truth in Web’s law blogs
Justice may be blind, but it isn't mute.
Telling the stories that happen in court used to be handled primarily by trained journalists. They sit through hearings and trials, distill reams of documents, interview attorneys and judges, and tell readers or viewers what matters. Good reporters develop professional relationships with court officials and understand the way the courts work.
Today anyone can be a reporter. The Internet provides free blogs and video and text messaging services that have people spreading the word from courthouse hallways. It doesn't promise objectivity or thoroughness. It does let more people be heard.
This evolution of technology and courtroom coverage was the subject of the recent "FYI, LOL or OMG? -- Technology's Impact on the Courts and Media" conference in Reno. Judges, court administrators and information officers, lawyers and journalists from across the country discussed the changes in their professions.
All parties agree the way courts are covered is changing, but few agree about what it all means.
"There's something happening, but we're not sure what it is," said Gary Hengstler, director of the Donald W. Reynolds National Center for the Courts and Media at the National Judicial College.
What's happening is the proliferation of bloggers into the reporting of courtroom events.
"It's become incredibly inexpensive to cover news," technology journalist Mitch Ratcliffe said. "All of the barriers to doing journalism have fallen. I could walk into a court with a cell phone now and broadcast a trial."
Although everyone from judges to jurors to defendants have created blogs, the Web log phenomenon doesn't always garner respect. Mainstream journalists consider many blogs to be several notches below their reporting due to a lack of editing, fact-checking and vetting.
"Bloggers are passionate, excited and often work alone. They have no institutional structure and nobody to guide them," said Robert Cox, founder of the Media Bloggers Association (www.mediabloggers.org).
Cox made headlines when he secured seats for bloggers at the trial of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, in 2007.
Although many blogs fall below the credibility line of the mainstream press, there are a growing number that have the respect of those in the judicial world. Edward Adams, editor and publisher of the American Bar Association's ABA Journal, said there are more than 7,000 blogs devoted to the legal world. Among the best, he said, is the SCOTUS (Supreme Court of the United States) blog (www.scotusblog.com).
"It's run by lawyers and they cover the Supreme Court more intensively than any news organization does, and it does a better job, too," Adams said.
The blog features longtime reporter Lyle Denniston, considered to be the dean of SCOTUS reporters.
"If Lyle can change and adapt, then anyone in this room can," Adams said.
He also touted the Becker-Posner Blog (www.becker-posner-blog.com) by Chicago lawyers Gary Becker and Richard Posner and the work of Rory Perry (radio.weblogs.com/0103705/) who blogs about the proceeding of the West Virginia Supreme Court.
All 700-plus legal blogs are indexed and linked under the "blawgs" tab at the abajournal.com site (abajournal.com/blawgs/)
Share your Internet story with me at agibes@reviewjournal.com.
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