How should Media Bloggers cover the Libby Trial?
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Thu, 02/01/2007 - 10:09
Okay, it's official. I'll be one of the Media Blogger Association bloggers credentialed for the Libby trial. I'm currently scheduled to be there Feb 26 through Mar 1st.
A lot has been written already, both about the trial, and about the bloggers covering the trial. You can find many such links at the MBA’s aggregated feed. In addition, Marcy Wheeler has done incredible work covering the trial, including great live blog posts as the trial proceeds. (Be sure to buy her book).
So, what do I have to offer as a blogger, that isn’t already being offered by other bloggers and by the members of the traditional media? What is my hook, my spin, my unique perspective? Over the next couple weeks, I’ll spend time getting up to speed on the trial, and on how I want to blog about it.
My initial thought is that my interest won’t be the standard legal type stuff that you can get everywhere else. I’m not a lawyer. The closest I’ve ever gotten to a trial has probably been watching Perry Mason as a kid, or waiting in the jury selection room, hoping I wouldn’t get called.
I don’t want to end up at the other end of the spectrum talking about which outfit which witness wore, although that is perhaps closer to what I’m interested in. Not so much the fashion side of things. People who know me understand I know nothing about fashion. I still don’t get what is wrong with wearing both pink and red or checks and stripes at the same time.
No, what I’m interested in are things like the underlying narrative. What is the impalpable essence of the courtroom atmosphere as it relates to our national story that can’t easily be summed up as “Today, Judith Miller testified that...” It has to do with our common story and perhaps a little bit with group dynamics.
As my mind wanders, I think about Tom Atlee’s book, The Tao of Democracy. He talks a lot about our collective intelligence and cites juries as an interesting place where collective intelligence is used. Perhaps we can work on a little collective intelligence here. Please, let me know your thoughts about what sort of unique perspective, I, as a blogger can add to the coverage of the trial.
The underlying narrative of the Libby trial
Submitted by David Isenberg on Fri, 02/02/2007 - 10:53.Aldon,
My cab went past the Libby courtroom the other day. (I had to ask my cab driver why all the TV cameras.) On the second cab ride that day, returning to my hotel, I noticed that several homeless people had comandeered benches and draped them in layers of cardboard and sleeping bags against the winter wind, sharing the courtroom's plaza with the camera crews. Want underlying narrative? You've got it. With the Capitol dome resplendent in the background.
David S. Isenberg
http://isen.com/blog
Congrats!
Submitted by Benjamin Melançon on Sat, 02/03/2007 - 03:23.Congratulations, Aldon!
You'll have time to see what others are doing-- if there's a news source doing a good blow-by-blow, you can just refer to it.
I don't imagine you'll be able to ask lawyers and such questions? It would be pretty cool to open source what to ask.
One approach is to write for the people who wish they were there. This may not be the largest, nor most important, audience though.
I agree with your thoughts on context, and the comments that context in this case is power, privilege, and the abuse thereof– with ongoing and tragic consequences.
Economic inequality, and a morally impoverished media, are at the root of this abuse.
In a trial about small lies used to cover up the dirty tricks used to sustain the big lie -- the lie that the U.S. public had some interest in this elite's war of empire against Iraq -- the context is painfully clear. The same media that, in some cases, belatedly apologized for carrying official misinformation too eagerly, is paving the way for war against Iran.
~ben Agaric Design Collective | People Who Give a Damn