Twitter in the Courtroom?

Colorado judge allows reporter to Twitter in the Courtroom.

Today while researching the Twitter phenomenon, I ran across an interesting blog, Social Media Law Student, a blog by Rex Gradeless. Here's a blurb from his blog, Colorado Judge Allows Twitter In Courtroom:

The courtroom now includes Twitter.

What? Twitter inside the courtroom?

Yes, it’s true. A Colorado judge recently approved
the use of Twitter, and blogs, inside the courtroom to
cover an infant-abuse trial.

Wichita Eagle (Kansas) reporter, Ron Sylvester, pushed for the court to allow the use of Twitter for his courtroom reporting.

Sylvester argued courts are open to the public and the process of reporting with Twitter is similar to writing a story for a newspaper.

However, the major difference in the two mediums is the speed
at which the information would be released (Twitter being more
immediate).

This was not the first time Sylvester has reported via
Twitter from inside the courtroom. In fact, Sylvester’s Twitter
page seems to indicate he frequently reports from inside the courtroom using
Twitter.

Lawyers should learn more about these new social media
technologies because they are finding ways inside the
courtroom.

[Some] judges are now, at least in Colorado, allowing reporters to
use Twitter to report live.

The rise of Twitter will mean the rise of more reporters
like Sylvester sitting our nation’s courtrooms.

Thanks and kudos to Gradeless and Ernest Luning for reporting on this development. For more detail about the Judge's rationale, see Ernest Luning's article about the Colorado case allowing Twitter in the Courtroom. The original story by Ernest Luning 1/5/09 4:54 PM; The Colorado Independent, can be found at the Colorado Independent here.