Why deliberate, or talk, when you can tweet? [NYT]


The assumptions and conventions of today are grinding against those of the day before yesterday. All that’s needed now is somehow to tie in the AIG bonuses…..

  • The use of BlackBerrys and iPhones by jurors gathering and sending out information about cases is wreaking havoc on trials around the country, upending deliberations and infuriating judges. … [J]urors might think they were helping, not hurting, by digging deeper. But the rules of evidence, developed over hundreds of years of jurisprudence, are there to ensure that the facts that go before a jury have been subjected to scrutiny and challenge from both sides. 

via As Jurors Turn to Web, Mistrials Are Popping Up – NYTimes.com.

  • Twitter entered the lexicon two years ago here when it was the darling of the South by Southwest conference, and it is now the event’s dominant platform, seeming to overtake actual conversation. Why talk when you can tweet?

About Owen Youngman

Professor Emeritus of Journalism and formerly Knight Chair in Digital Media Strategy, Medill School of Journalism, Northwestern University. Formerly senior vice president/strategy and development and director of interactive media, Chicago Tribune.