Judge Differentiates Tweeting and Blogging from Courtroom
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Does it make sense for a judge to allow blogging but ban tweeting from the courtroom? That was the question in a recent Massachusetts murder trial, and the judge’s explanation of why he did it has failed to satisfy media observers.
The recent first-degree murder trial of Nathaniel Fujita attracted national media to Superior Court Judge Peter Lauriat’s courtroom. Fujita, 20, was convicted March 7 of brutally murdering his former high school girlfriend.
Given the media interest in the case, Judge Lauriat no doubt faced a difficult challenge in balancing the right of the media to be present in the courtroom against the need to maintain order and decorum. Even so, his decision about how to handle courtroom coverage left some observers scratching their heads.
Initially, the judge banned tweeting during the trial from anywhere in the Middlesex Superior Courthouse in Woburn, not just from within the courtroom. Two Boston media outlets, WCVB Channel 5 and WBZ Radio, challenged the order. After a Feb. 19 hearing on the media challenge, Judge Lauriat eased up slightly on the ban, allowing reporters to tweet from a separate media room in the courthouse, but still banning tweeting from the courtroom.
Read original articleTags: Judge Differentiates Tweeting, Judge Lauriat, Massachusetts murder trial, Nathaniel Fujita
