NEW YORK — They watched from the courtroom or via closed-circuit television in an overflow room — about 140 reporters, most with laptops or other electronic devices, serving up news in the most basic and rapid manner.
Statements were posted seconds after leaving a lawyer’s mouth. Observations on how Donald Trump responds. Little tidbits about which testimonies cause jurors to take notes. “Let me give you some quotes so you can feel comfortable in the courtroom,” MSNBC’s Yasmin Vossoughian said before reading colleagues’ reports.
Trump’s hush-money lawsuit illustrates the potential of live blogs as a news tool – necessarily.
Television and text journalism are normally two very different media. But because New York state rules prohibit camera coverage of trials and the former president’s case has attracted so much interest, blogs are emerging as the best way to communicate for both formats.
During opening arguments in the case on Monday, CNN used a third of the television screen to show short printed updates of what was happening, written by the three journalists stationed in the Manhattan courthouse. MSNBC did something similar with “chyrons” on the screen: text on top of each other.
Traditional media outlets such as The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Associated Press regularly use news blogs, an experience that proved useful on Monday. While such blogs often complement traditional television coverage of major events like the Academy Awards or election nights — it’s known as a “second screen” experience — consumers had no other choice this time.
About 140 reporters watched from the courtroom or via closed-circuit television in an overflow room, reporting news to the newsroom.
Blog posts sometimes felt like bits and pieces of a developing print story, like this from Devlin Barrett of The Washington Post: “They disguised what the payments were,” (plaintiff Matthew) Colangelo said, speaking clearly and calmly with his hands in his pack bags.”
Others try to set the tone: “All 18 jurors look directly at the veteran prosecutor, who stands about halfway between them and Trump at a lectern in the center of the courtroom,” AP’s Michael R. Sisak wrote.
Kyle Schnitzer of the New York Post wrote that Trump attorney Todd Blanche concluded his opening statement with a call from his hometown, quoting him as saying, “use your common sense, you’re New Yorkers, that’s why we’re here.”
Other observations are more analytical or attempt to correct the facts.
The Post’s Shayna Jacobs wrote that “in their opening statements, prosecutors focused heavily on the circumstantial evidence they say will help prove that Donald Trump paid Stormy Daniels in 2016 to keep her from going public about an alleged meeting with Trump for a decade earlier.”
The Times’ Maggie Haberman wrote as Trump’s lawyer made his opening statement: “Blanche tries to portray the National Enquirer’s practices as similar to how other news outlets operate, in terms of deciding when and how to publish a story.” That is not the case. correct.”
For CNN and MSNBC, which covered opening arguments Monday in more detail than Trump-friendly outlets Fox News Channel and Newsmax, there were some growing pains in getting used to the new form of storytelling.
MSNBC used text less often, occasionally relying on the clumsiness of correspondents trying to search their notes for the latest quotes. “Trump lawyer: Trump is not guilty of what Cohen did,” said an MSNBC chyron. “Trump lawyer: There’s nothing wrong with trying to influence an election,” read another.
A few times, CNN’s Jake Tapper interrupted the speakers to read blog posts that viewers could also see on their screens.
Still, the blog-style reports were often more useful than on-screen analysts, especially when trying to predict what would happen next. One MSNBC expert confidently predicted that Judge Juan Merchan would end the day’s proceedings before a first witness was called, and a CNN analyst said the first witness would wrap his testimony in a juicy revelation.
Neither happened.
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David Bauder writes about media for The Associated Press. Follow him at http://twitter.com/dbauder.