MBALibbyTrial

Hillary Profita wrote in CBS News Public Eye Across The Media Universe: 'Increasingly Contentious' Edition

Libby Gets Blogified: Finally, for those of you who just can't get enough of the media-politics-CIA fiesta of intrigue that is the Scooter Libby trial – you're in luck. Broadcasting and Cable reports that the AP will syndicate a feed of blog coverage of the trial to more than 600 Web sites.

For Immediate Release

Contact: Bill Hobbs
Meshmedia Strategies
615.337.2934
MeshMediaStrategies@gmail.com

Wire service partners with Media Bloggers Association to put bloggers' coverage of high-profile trial of former Cheney aide on more than 600 newspapers' websites.

WASHINGTON DC, January 23, 2007 - The Associated Press has partnered with the Media Bloggers Association to distribute its members' coverage of the trial of Lewis "Scooter" Libby, former chief of staff for Vice President Dick Cheney, to the news organization's member websites, the bloggers group announced today.

John Eggerton wrote in Broadcasting & Cable AP Delivers Blog Report of I. Lewis Libby Trial

The AP will syndicate a feed of blog coverage of the I. Lewis 'Scooter' Libby trial to more than 600 Web sites, according to the Media Bloggers Association. This is the first time the AP has syndicated a blog feed as part of its news service, says MBA spokesman Bill Hobbs.

David A. Utter wrote in WebProNews AP To Wire Libby Bloggers To Readers

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.

I got back to New York on Friday evening after a long week getting things set up for the MBA's upcoming coverage of the Scooter Libby Trial and could only bear to watch a few minutes of the TV news coverage of the voir dire. I had not seen any of it while in DC.

Chris Matthews aired a report from David Shuster. David sat next to me in the Media Room on Thursday so had the same vantage point for the proceedings during the voir dire. His report emphasized how many of the jurors had strongly negative feelings about Cheney, the Bush Administration and the war in Iraq. Matthews then spoke with Jonathon Alter of Newsweek and Chris Cillizza of the Washington Post (both on as part of NBC's deal with the Washington Post company). The three of them expanded on the "jurors don't like Cheney" meme from Shuster's piece and then ran with it.

The morning drifted by with just one juror making the cut to the next round, five others dimissed. Now we are back from lunch and the losing streak continues. That last fellow forgot to check the box that said "have you ever been convicted of a felony"; once he admitted he had (bank fraud) he was dismissed forthwith.

I slipped out for lunch with Alan Sipress from the Washington Post, the reporter who wrote the story last week that go so much attention. We went to Rasika, a terrific nouvelle-Indian restaurant.

Meanwhile, Clarice Feldman from Just One Minute, one of the MBA Bloggers, dropped by to sit in on the voir dire.

Any notion that voir dire would get done today seems to be fading fast as they've been at it now for two hours and managed to get very little done.

One prospective juror took up about an hour fending off attempts by the defense to get her to admit that her feelings about the Bush Administration (not warm and fuzzy) might possibly influence her decision-making. She was excused. So was the next one.

Basically, we are not any closer to a jury than we were yesterday afternoon when the court recessed.

The problem is that juror after juror seems to either work in the government, know people involved in the case in some way, or have strongly held political views.

South China Morning Post reported For the first time, bloggers get media seats at trial

The US federal court in Washington has provided 80 accreditations, 35 for the courtroom and 45 for the media centre, its spokeswoman said.