Newspaper halts courtroom tweeting
The Australian newspaper has confirmed that it has kiboshed technology reporter Andrew Colley's tweeting from the iiNet trial, while it reviews the legal and commercial implications of reporting via Twitter.
The landmark court case between Internet Service Provider iiNet and the Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft (AFACT) could define copyright law in Australia, and has seen Colley and ZDNet journalist Liam Tung both providing blow-by-blow accounts of the case via Twitter.
Stuart Kennedy, editor of The Australian IT told Tech Marketing's sister site ITJourno that the newspaper had made the decision to discontinue the live tweeting from the iiNet courtroom, pending a wider analysis of the potential risks and benefits of using the micro-blogging platform to cover such stories.
"We're looking at all of the legal issues around tweeting from a courtroom and on a production level, looking at how we can maximise our reporters' efforts in terms of making use of those tweets on our website," Kennedy said.
Colley's tweets on the case were being made using his personal Twitter account, as has ZDNet's Tung, who continues to cover the story live via Twitter. Unlike The Australian IT, ZDNet is also publishing Tung's tweets on its website.
However, it is the legal issues that The Australian is most concerned with, Kennedy said.
"I'm not a lawyer but a few possible legal issues come to mind," he said. "One is that a judge may not be disposed to reporters tweeting from his or her courtroom and could potentially remove anyone doing so, and secondly it's very difficult to maintain a fair and accurate account of proceedings in 140 character bursts."
"It's also fair to say that due to the fact that tweets are going through unfiltered, it doesn't give our legal team a chance to look over them and provide advice on any coverage, which may be contentious legally."
On Monday, Crikey's Margaret Simons wrote a piece highlighting various issues that tweet reporting from courtrooms raised. Colley stopped tweeting on Monday afternoon, citing an issue with his 3G connection.
Asked if the Crikey piece had prompted the decision to reign in Colley's tweeting, Kennedy said he had not read the article.
The landmark court case between Internet Service Provider iiNet and the Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft (AFACT) could define copyright law in Australia, and has seen Colley and ZDNet journalist Liam Tung both providing blow-by-blow accounts of the case via Twitter.
Stuart Kennedy, editor of The Australian IT told Tech Marketing's sister site ITJourno that the newspaper had made the decision to discontinue the live tweeting from the iiNet courtroom, pending a wider analysis of the potential risks and benefits of using the micro-blogging platform to cover such stories.
"We're looking at all of the legal issues around tweeting from a courtroom and on a production level, looking at how we can maximise our reporters' efforts in terms of making use of those tweets on our website," Kennedy said.
Colley's tweets on the case were being made using his personal Twitter account, as has ZDNet's Tung, who continues to cover the story live via Twitter. Unlike The Australian IT, ZDNet is also publishing Tung's tweets on its website.
However, it is the legal issues that The Australian is most concerned with, Kennedy said.
"I'm not a lawyer but a few possible legal issues come to mind," he said. "One is that a judge may not be disposed to reporters tweeting from his or her courtroom and could potentially remove anyone doing so, and secondly it's very difficult to maintain a fair and accurate account of proceedings in 140 character bursts."
"It's also fair to say that due to the fact that tweets are going through unfiltered, it doesn't give our legal team a chance to look over them and provide advice on any coverage, which may be contentious legally."
On Monday, Crikey's Margaret Simons wrote a piece highlighting various issues that tweet reporting from courtrooms raised. Colley stopped tweeting on Monday afternoon, citing an issue with his 3G connection.
Asked if the Crikey piece had prompted the decision to reign in Colley's tweeting, Kennedy said he had not read the article.
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