From “Here Ye, Here Ye” to #guilty

By Jarrid E. Blades

Once upon a time, the outcome of court proceedings were reported by a person swinging open the doors of the courthouse and announcing to the townspeople the verdict.  We have come a long way from this form of communication.  As long as we are connected to wireless or cell service, we can receive up-to-the-second updates during court proceedings.

Actually, it’s not too uncommon for the social media sphere to give updates before any other group, including big media outlets such as CNN.  For example, Seal Team 6’s raid on Osama Bin Laden’s compound was tweeted about live by a local Pakistani man. “Sohaib Athar tweeted under the handle @ReallyVirtual: “Helicopter hovering above Abbottabad at 1AM (is a rare event),” and “Go away helicopter – before I take out my giant swatter.”[1]  Mr. Athar went on to say, “one of the now multiple helicopters ‘was not Pakistani.’” He was the first to report the Bin Laden raid, beating out CNN, Fox or any other media outlet.

I believe social media has taken its toll on the judicial system.  More and more criminal cases are becoming social media spectacles (Jerry Sandusky, Casey Anthony, George Zimmerman). It’s almost impossible to avoid Twitter, Facebook, and other media live stream updates because they are everywhere.  CNN places live tweets from individuals in a ticker along the bottom of the television screen and people can tweet from sporting events, Times Square, or even when traveling by land or air. Their tweets are then posted live on video boards, digital billboards, and terminal screens worldwide. The ability to avoid the spread of information is almost impossible.

The negative impact of social media may one day stem from the misinterpretation and misreporting of fact via social media in relation to high stakes issues. PEW online posted an article titled, “On Twitter: Anger greets the Zimmerman verdict.” The article discusses some of the statistical information related to tweets after the verdict was handed down.  “According to a new Pew Research Center analysis of nearly 5 million tweets about the case in the first 26 hours after the verdict, 39% of the statements on Twitter shared news without any opinion. That demonstrates the degree to which the social media platform functions as a vehicle for disseminating breaking news by both citizens and news organizations.”

Five million tweets in 26 hours forces one to ask the question: Is there a court of social media?  An HLN article titled, “The Zimmerman trial in the court of social media,” pointed out that during the Zimmerman trial, the defense team live tweeted information and updates on court proceedings.  Supporters of Trayvon Martin and the prosecution also took to Twitter to keep followers updated about witnesses and court reactions. The Seminole Circuit Court may have acquitted Zimmerman, but in the court of social media the result was less then clear.

Logically, at this point in time in the height of social media usage we need to ask: Do laws which are put into place to govern courtroom and media procedure leave a place for Twitter?  The answer is trending . . . #no.  A Fall 2011 article from the Valparaiso University Law Review titled: The Courts Are All A ‘Twitter’: The Implications Of Social Media Use In The Courts, 46 Val. U.L. Rev. 43, describes the many ways jury members, judges, and attorneys can engage in ethical violations via Twitter. The author also points out that the growing trend at the state level is to include stricter and clearer jury instructions against electronic communications including social media usage, especially in state criminal proceedings, where the issue of social media usage has mainly found its niche. These cases are usually high profile and surrounded with public emotion. At the federal level, the Digital Law Media Project points out, “Rules of civil or criminal procedure—such as Rule 53 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure — have been interpreted as prohibiting or limiting live-blogging and tweeting from certain proceedings.  Ultimately, the application of many of these rules rests in the judge’s discretion, and they may not be applied evenly within a jurisdiction.”[2]