Web and Tech News in the Northwest

While I was in New York last week, I noticed a few local Coeur d’Alene “Tweeters” mentioning the Spokesman Review’s new Twitter account.  There was a big murder trial going on in Boise Idaho where Joseph Duncan murdered members of a Coeur d’Alene family.

The murders were gruesome, and seeing that they occurred only a few miles from my family’s home, the case really hit home.  I’ve been involved in web marketing, technology and social media for some time, and Idaho/Spokane has not really been thought of as leading the way in some of these areas, but I was surprised to see that the local newspaper, the Spokesman Review, had a reporter sitting in on the trial and “tweeting” the proceedings.

You can read up on the entire string here.

At first I was following it closely, wearing out my F5 key to get updates as quickly as they came (I’ve stopped getting tweets on my phone after very large texting bills).  The content, at times, can be tough to read as they detailed a lot of the things that were shown and said during the trial.  The most fascinating part of the whole thing was that there actually was a reporting in the courtroom, essentially reporting in 140 character stories, the happenings of a high profile, local trial.  All live while it was happening.  I was transfixed by the content and the questions this activity raised.

Will they allow tweets from courtrooms going forward?

Should you be tweeting from something like this?

Is there any ethical ramifications from using Twitter for something like this?

I need to check up on this, but I do believe that TV camera’s were not allowed into the courtroom, would this be treated as the same thing?  One could argue that this is simply a news piece that just happens to go our much more quickly than a typical article or 15 second news segment.  It didn’t seem like too much of a problem with this case, but take it a step further.  Is it acceptable to tweet from an execution?  The jury room?

As you can see in their account, and the picture above, the Spokesman Review has ended this “test” and may come back to it as the trial develops.  I’m looking forward to seeing them become active again.  I love the medium and think it is a great way to communicate.  I can also see this as a great tool for old school publishers to reach new readers and get them back to their site.  As their subscriber base continues to decrease, these new tools will become even more vital to their success, and hopefully, provide the greater community with a much better product overall.

Tags: joseph duncan, spokane, spokesman review, twitter