The Associated Press reports on a Kansas report getting permission to cover a federal criminal trial using Twitter from his cell phone:
In a victory for news technology in federal courts, a judge is allowing a reporter to use the microblogging service Twitter to provide constant updates from a racketeering gang trial this week. It's not the first time online streaming has been allowed in courtrooms, but the practice is still rare in the federal system, especially in criminal cases.
We first began discussing blogger credentialing for federal trials in 2005. It took two years before we were able to get access for bloggers to the Scooter Libby trial.
The AP story lists several examples of judges accepting new technology in the courtroom"
- online streaming of a hearing an RIAA lawsuit in a federal court in Massachusetts.
- live-blogging from within the courtroom on a laptop in a federal trial in Sioux City, Iowa.
- live TV coverage in the The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York over a terrorism-related case.
I am sure there are other cases. They did not, for example, mention Bob Mayo live-blogging via his laptop from a federal trial in Pittsburgh.
The case where the MBA had the biggest impact was singled out:
In perhaps the highest-profile appearance of new media in the federal courts, bloggers covering the 2007 CIA leak trial for former Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, were given the same credentials as traditional journalists.
