In an article in today’s Buffalo News, Maki Becker writes about how the Hassan trial has kept western New York riveted for the past couple of weeks. She writes,
The entire back row of Franczyk’s courtroom is filled with reporters, about half of whom are quietly tapping away at laptops and smart phones to send real-time updates on blogs and Twitter feeds — a first for a Western New York courtroom.
Marc, Chris, and I have been liveblogging or live Tweeting from Common Council meetings, Erie County Legislature meetings (#ecleg) for some time. We were live Tweeting stuff in Buffalo way before it was cool.
But the Hassan trial is not the first time a court proceeding in Western New York has been live-blogged. I’m not claiming that this was the first, necessarily, but it clearly renders inaccurate the supposition that the Hassan trial was the first – I live-blogged the legal arguments before Judge Sedita on the Erie County Legislature downsizing suit four months ago.
I generally don’t mind being treated like an amateur-hour pretender by professional journalists, but don’t say something is “a first” when it is, at best, a second. Accuracy and whatnot.
Related articles
The Buffalo Record 
It’s not suprising that the News decides what it thinks is news or that it rewrites it. Tomorrow’s headline: “Buffalo News exclusive: ink invented by the Buffalo News”
Ms. Becker interviewed me for a few minutes on Friday, asking specifically about my thoughts on the live blogging from the trial. I told her I had not really been following the Buffalo News, but had been reading Alan’s reports, which I thought were quite good. Of course, I see now that’s not the story she was looking for.
The Hassan trial was manufactured for the media and by the media. It’s called hype. There was nothing important about it. It was hyped to sell newspapers and to gain a ratings point for TV news. Without the medieval gore – a Muslim psycopath beheading his wife – it would be just another matricide, lost in the back pages..
Meanwhile, the important, history-making story was being covered day-by-day by the world’s media as it unfolded in Egypt. The consequences of mid-east revolutions are huge. A war could stop deliveries of oil through the Suez or the Strait of Hurmuz. It could mean no gas at the pumps, no food deliveries to Tops and Wegmans. While the national media was riveted on the mid-east, the Buffalo media was riveted on bush league stories: a murder trial and the sale of a hockey team. It’s a sad testament to the irrelevancy of Buffalo media.
What are they thinking? With a few exceptions, the Buffalo media missed the story when a local gubernatorial candidate embarrassed this region on a national stage. 98% of the media was aghast at what they saw; but the Buffalo media’s reaction was “what’s the big deal?”, apparently thrilled at the national attention – even bad attention.
Western New York is becoming more culturally isolated. We can’t seem to identify the relevant stories from the trash. Maybe the media outlets are frantically fighting for bones, just to stay alive. The other day, one TV station celebrated the return of its product testing feature “As Seen on TV”. Oh joy! What would we do without it?
The Hassan trial was not “manufactured” by anyone. It is a proper legal proceeding that is noteworthy and newsworthy not only because of the high profile of the victim and accused, but because of the way in which the accused has conducted himself.
Meanwhile, Egypt is being covered quite adequately by news outlets that are equipped to handle stories that happen in Egypt. It is of little direct or immediate import to people in Buffalo, but this murder trial and the sale of the Sabres were both.
I distinctly made you an offer to write for our site to fill in what holes you found in our coverage. As of this writing, you’ve yet to respond.
I’m not sure I would say their statement was inaccurate. I read it as this is the first time that half the journalists in the room are using the internet to issue realtime updates.
Quantity does not equal quality, though. Some of the tweets I’ve read from the “pros” are barely intelligible. I thought Alan’s were the most coherent.
I read two newspapers every day–The “New York Times” for the news and the “Buffalo News” for local gossip.
Have to agree with Derek on this one…
Becker was commenting on the fact that a significant number of journalists were all updating via Twitter and blogs. She wasn’t implying that it was the first time in history someone used Twitter to update from a courtroom.
Just from my perspective, I wish you guys would spend more time writing up thoughtful posts on interesting things in WNY than bashing other media outlets. Behaving like this only reinforces the idea that you’re ‘amateur-hour’ and will never compete on their level. I think that’s unfortunate.
You might’ve been heated when you read the article, but your readers don’t share that feeling. You’re just coming across as immature and whiney.
@Alan
We see things differently. Revolution in the mid-east tinderbox can explode into a war that would affect everybody in Buffalo and around the world. We could go from gasoline & food to nada in a week. The trial is titillation for a media that, unfortuntely, went tabloid.
I said nothing about ‘proper legal procedures” or any such lawyer-speak.
I don’t recall any offer to write any blog, but in any case, I would have gratefully declined.
I write for a living. Writing for a blog here or in the Times or Slate, is like morning exercise – stretching the fingers with a few hundred words, for a few minutes.
Beyond that, it’s unfortunate that Buffalo media has become increasing irrelevant to daily life. We’re skirting a depression and need meat and potatoes, but all we get is fluff and teases. “Stay tuned for more, at 11”.
@Taro, I disagree. The informative comment from Jim Milles above shows the article in the News overlooked an important part of the story and made a statement about it that’s confusing at best and misleading at worst. Impossible for us to know whether that was due to Maki’s coverage, or Maki’s editor, but it’s definitely worth the quick call-out that Pundit posted. And speaking of the News, Jim’s informative comment here shows the value of having stories online paired with a comment section that’s not so wildly restrictive as to be nearly useless — as is the News’.
BTW, I’d love to know whether the News or other media have had an actual attorney writing about the trial. Frankly, I’ve read little of the trial coverage in the News, but have read everything written here about it — I feel I’ve gotten exactly the right amount and type of information and insight I’m looking for. I mean, where else would I have read about the Chewbacca defense–? I rest my case.
@Taro & Derek: the liveblog I reference above was a first because the courtroom was packed with reporters who were allowed to have cameras & mics in court. So, they all recorded it and used about .5 minutes of a quip from Judge Sedita in their stories at 5, 6, and 11. I liveblogged it and gave people every detail, every argument, every quip, in more-or-less real time. The reason there were 10 media people blogging & Tweeting is because we at WNYMedia.net have used that as a successful and informative platform for the past half decade. Petulant, maybe. Accurate, absolutely. If I used a Buffalo News item or photo without attribution, they’d sic a lawyer on me. I pointed out a factual inaccuracy. If that makes me “amateur hour” so be it.
@RaChaCha, Derek, and Jim, thank you for your kind words about my own coverage of this thing. Hopefully, you’ve also caught me talking about it with Brad Riter on WECK most days at 5:05.
@BobbyCat, you said the trial was “manufactured” for and by the media. It wasn’t. It’s a proper legal proceeding that is getting exactly the amount of attention it deserves. Buffalo media is relevant to Buffalo needs. Frankly, if you go to the Buffalo News for Egypt news, you don’t really want to be informed about Egypt. That’s why we have (e.g.) the BBC, ITN, and the New York Times.
@Alan
I don’t look to the BufNews for Egypt news. All Buff media ignored Egypt in favor of the trial. The media “manufactured” the story, meaning they hyped it like the National Enquirer hypes any story. When Fox NEWS hypes a story, such as the ‘birther’ story or O’Reilly’s ‘death of christmas’ we all recognize it for what it is. When a story is hyped or ginned-up in Buffalo, everybody says “Who us?”.
Your argument that “It’s a proper legal proceeding…” is a straw man argument. No one said that it wasn’t.
If this murder story had any real news value it would spread beyond our borders, but it hasn’t.
A lot of readers don’t remember when Channel 7 and Irv Weinstein made their bones chasing fire engines. Here we go again. The slavish appeal to this murder coverage tells me that Buffalo media has gone tabloid. The NEWS feels it must justify its coverage so they assign Maxi Becker to write a story about how intrigued everyone is. But its nothing more than manufactured hype. I can understand why the TV news stations are desperate, but this is a departure for the NEWS. After serving many years, Warren Buffet just resigned from the Board of the Washington Post. Maybe that’s handwriting on the wall for the NEWS. Maybe they are desperate, too.
@BobbyCat- For all your constant claims about your expertise on journalism, how in the world can you try and say a grizzly local murder case where someone was beheaded and the defendant refuses a lawyer isn’t newsworthy? And in what world would Buffalo media, who have absolutely no connection or insight into Egypt, be better serving us by offering a bunch of recycled news wire stories about it?
Covering this murder case is journalism 101. It’s local, it’s timely, and as my news writing professor said the very first day of college, “If it bleeds, it leads”. This isn’t a story about Charlie Sheen fucking hookers and doing blow. It’s about one of the most gruesome killings in the region’s history by a man who somehow believes he was entitled to carry it out and shows zero remorse about it.
The only thing being ‘ginned up’ is your constant outrage at ridiculous things in some vain attempt to feel like you know more than ‘the media powers that be’.
tl;dr Produce a journalism degree, some media credentials or STFU about how you know better than every news outlet on every topic.
@Splett.
You can take your orders and stick them up your ass. I express my opinions. If you don’t like them, fine. Don’t tell me to shut-up. As far as your tough talk goes, maybe you can tell me to my face some time and we’ll see if you can back it up or are just another internet tough guy a/k/a internet girl scout and linebacker wannabe. And BTW, fuck you.
I like Splett. I like BobbyCat. Therefore, they vicariously like each other. All is right with the world…
@BobbyCat
LOL.
That response made my day.
Sorry, unless you feel like taking a ride to Ann Arbor, I won’t be able to explain basic concepts of journalism in person. Not sure how pointing out how your opinion is baseless, uninformed and without merit makes me an internet tough guy but I have a feeling that’s yet another web term you don’t completely grasp the concept of.
If you’d like to learn more about basic journalistic concepts and what exactly is considered newsworthy however, pop in to your local high school and sit in on a meeting with the school newspaper. I’m sure they can clear up for you why when someone gets beheaded in an affluent suburban community, the media covers the trial.