United States V. Libby - Press Coverage of The Trial

Press Coverage of The Trial

Blogs have played a prominent role in the press coverage of this trial. Scott Shane, in his article "For Liberal Bloggers, Libby Trial Is Fun and Fodder," published in The New York Times on February 15, 2007, quotes Robert Cox, president of the Media Bloggers Association, who observes that United States of America v. I. Lewis Libby is "the first federal case for which independent bloggers have been given official credentials along with reporters from the traditional news media."

On January 3, 2007, the first team of bloggers to announce that they had been granted press credentials was Firedoglake, a progressive blog founded by Jane Hamsher. Less than a week later, on January 9, the Media Bloggers Association announced that several of its affiliated bloggers had been granted press credentials too.

Among those representing the traditional press and mainstream media reporter David Shuster began live blogging the trial for MSNBC on Hardblogger, an online feature linked at Hardball with Chris Matthews, as well as reporting on camera in segments of various MSNBC News programs. A transcript of Schuster's broadcast report on the first day of the trial, during which Schuster says that the prosecution summarized evidence to support its allegations that Vice President Dick Cheney was involved in Libby's actions relating to the Plame affair, is posted on several of these news blogs.

Some controversy arose among various bloggers about who is primarily responsible for acquiring Libby trial press credentials, with numerous mainstream-media accounts, including The Washington Post, giving Cox and his Media Bloggers Association credit:

...for the first time in a federal court, two of these seats will be reserved for bloggers. After two years of negotiations with judicial officials across the country, the Media Bloggers Association, a nonpartisan group with about 1,000 members working to extend the powers of the press to bloggers, has won credentials to rotate among his members. The trial of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, the highest-ranking Bush administration official to face criminal charges, could "catalyze" the association's efforts to win respect and access for bloggers in federal and state courthouses, said Robert Cox, the association's president.

Robert Cox is trying to foster standards. His Media Bloggers Association won court credentials for bloggers....

Bloggers from Firedoglake disputed some of these statements. Scott Shane's article in The New York Times contains the following "appended correction":

front-page article on Thursday about bloggers covering the perjury trial of I. Lewis Libby Jr. referred imprecisely to the role of Robert A. Cox, president of the Media Bloggers Association, in securing credentials. Mr. Cox negotiated access for his association, which was the first blogger group to be granted credentials to cover the trial. He did not negotiate on behalf of firedoglake.com and other blogs that received their credentials later.

Shane concludes: "With no audio or video feed permitted, the Firedoglake 'live blog' has offered the fullest, fastest public report available. Many mainstream journalists use it to check on the trial."

On February 7, 2007, during the examination of journalist Tim Russert, as covered on MSNBC, video clips of Libby's Grand Jury testimony were played; Russert's current testimony contradicts key parts of Libby's previous testimony, in that on the stand Russert denied that he told (or even could have told) Libby about Mrs. Wilson's working for the CIA, as Libby has claimed.

On February 13, as the defense was beginning to present its case, however, defense lawyers told the court that neither Cheney nor Libby would be taking the stand. In addition to their blogging, Jane Hamsher, Marcy Wheeler and Jeralyn Merritt also appeared on camera via PoliticsTV.com at the end of most days to sum up that day's legal proceedings directly observed in the courtroom, providing links to these video programs in their online accounts. For example, they appeared on camera to present their views of February 14, the day the defense rested, and did a similar roundup at the end of the trial, covering the closing arguments for the prosecution and the defense.

Beginning on February 26, the media reported that one of the twelve jurors had been "dismissed" because she "was exposed to information about the trial...but the judge allowed the jury to continue deliberations with 11 members."

YearlyKos, a political convention for American liberal political activists, organized by readers and writers of Daily Kos, an influential American political blog, which took place in Chicago from August 2 through August 5, 2007, hosted a panel discussion, on August 2, by Christy Hardin Smith of Firedoglake, Jeralyn Merritt (TalkLeft), and Marcy Wheeler (The Next Hurrah) on their experiences of "live-blogging" the Libby trial, moderated by Merritt; the panel also included Sheldon L. Snook, Chief of Staff to the Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, who was "the court official in charge of news media at the Libby trial."