August 13, 2008 by Kevin

Newspapers cover murder trial via Twitter

Corporate communications pro, Shel Holtz, picked up news of something I thought we'd start seeing. Twittering of trials from the courtroom.

Three years ago a nationally publicized manhunt followed the discovery of three bodies in a North Idaho home. The search ended when a 8 year old girl was found at a Coeur D’Alene restaurant in the company of a convicted sex offender named Joseph Edward Duncan III. Shasta’s brother, Dylan, was found dead soon after at a remote campsite in Montana.

As Shel points out, while news of Duncan’s trial, which is just underway, isn’t grabbing national attention, the proceedings are of intense interest to those who live in Idaho and Eastern Washington, including Spokane. And riding the wave of new media tools, reporters from the Spokesman Review in Spokane and the Idaho Statesman are covering the trial via Twitter.

Sure, there will be full length stories in the next morning's papers written by the same reporters. But there's nothing like real time coverage.

Shel draws a big distinction between the manner in which the newspapers are using Twitter.

The Idaho daily is tweeting whenever there is new content on the newspaper's website, with a typical tweet looking like this:

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These are jumbled up with all the other Statesman coverage, nearly all of which feature links to the full newspaper reports.

The Spokesman Review, on the other hand, is tweeting directly from the courtroom with no other coverage to interrupt the flow. Refreshing the view on the Review's Twitter page almost always reveals new information. Today's coverage so far (it's still mid-morning in Idaho) looks like this:

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Access to the Spokesman Review's Twitter feed is highlighted on a page on the newspaper's website that provides an overview of the case, including a timeline, background, and an archive of coverage, multimedia, information on how to help the surviving victim, and PDFs of official legal documents. In addition to Twitter, the paper has also launched a blog, "featuring longer updates," according to the paper.

Also interesting to note that the Spokesman Review's Twitter feeds are acting as an AP feed to other newspapers and TV stations covering the trial. Twitter's page showing who is following the Spokesman Review's Twitter feeds includes The Oregonian, the Nashua Telegraph, NBC affiliate KHQ, Spokane's KREM TV, and Iowa's Quad Cities Times.

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May 18, 2008 by Kevin

Answering lawyer's 'no time' objection to blogging

PR expert, Shel Holtz, has good post today on answering the time objection to blogging.

Shel was addressing the time objection to executives blogging. I thought his explanation applied well to lawyers as well.

Blogs don’t replace phone calls, road shows, speeches, letters, email and the rest of the tools in the communications toolbox. When making the choice of tools to use, though, blogging should be assessed based on its strengths. Identifying the return on time invested an executive would accrue, that time commitment could seem like a far less daunting obstacle. Blogging, in fact, could ultimately take less time than using all the other channels that are less effective in some circumstances.

Finally, a lot of the worry about the time involved comes from a misconception: Blog posts from executives, many company leaders assume, need to be lengthy, carefully crafted essays, not unlike a shareholder’s letter or one of those ‘From the CEO’ columns that used to appear on the inside front cover of so many magazines. Truthfully, most readers of blogs aren’t interested in 2,000-word columns. A one- or two-paragraph observation, question, or commentary would be far more effective. ‘A radio report I heard in the car on the way to the office this morning got me thinking...’ is a fine introduction, and ‘I’d like to know what you think’ is a great conclusion to a brief, pithy post.

Rather than accept the ‘no time’ argument, let’s help our executives understand the value of blogging, the activities it can replace, and the nature of the effort involved.

I hear the time objection to lawyer blogging three or four times a week. Legal marketing professionals pushing law blogs for their law firms are running into the same objection. 'We're busy lawyers, we don't have time to blog.'

Shel's suggestion in responding is a good one. Help lawyers understand the value of blogging, the activities it can replace, and the how little effort may be involved.

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