How Social Media is Influencing Courtrooms

 In the United States, using twitter and other social media within the courtroom must be approved in each case.  If someone requests to use social media in such scenarios, a judge must decide whether such use will interfere with the trial or not.  Social media will get the information out much faster – an issue that sometimes stands in the way of administering justice in the courts.  

The rules for tweeting are different from one state to the next and differ between each trial.  Sometimes a reporter is allowed to carry a laptop or cell phone for only certain parts of the trial.  Some judges are perfectly fine with using social media and believe it will make the public more informed on legal proceedings. 

 Other judges, on the other hand, are very much opposed to such actions within the courtroom.  For example, Chief U.S. District Court Judge David C. Norton of South Carolina forbid all wireless communication technology from the courtrooms. 

In early May of this year, the Boston Globe reported on the permission of social media use within the courtroom inQuincy, Massachusetts.  In this courtroom, reporters and bloggers will have a particular seating area and Wi-Fi connection.  Laptops, iPads, and smart phones are allowed for reporting on trials, whether through blogs, twitter, or facebook.  Office Solutions Plus LLC is a company located inWeston, Massachusetts and uses court reporters (not newspaper reporters!) to transcribe vital documents that officials within the legal field need.  For an actual transcript, however, a company that is Trial Court Certified like Office Solutions Plus quickly transcribes vital documents.

Office Solutions Plus LLC uses State Certified Court Reporters to transcribe court proceedings as well as depositions.  OS+ also works on corporate and medical testimony within the court reporting aspects.  Along with an original transcript, a copy and a CD are created that hold all of this information for the clients.  Office Solutions Plus LLC can also provides videography and translation to clients.  Best of all, OS+ has very quick turnaround times to meet approaching deadlines! 

If you want more information than you get from a tweet or a blog, get a copy of the transcript from Office Solutions Plus – who also has a staff to take depositions to use as evidence in court. 

References

Davies, Caroline. “Judge Tells Court Reporters: ‘Twitter as Much as You Wish’ | Law | Guardian.co.uk.” 14 Dec. 2011. http://www.guardian.co.uk/law/2011/dec/14/judge-court-reporters-twitter.

Lozare, Nicole. “High-profile Trials Can Increase Reporters’ Followers by Thousands | Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.” Fall 2011. http://www.rcfp.org/browse-media-law-resources/news-media-law/news-media-and-law-fall-2011/more-reporters-tweeting-court.

Gradeless, Rex. “Colorado Judge Allows Twitter In Courtroom.” 6 Jan. 2009. http://socialmedialawstudent.com/twitter/colorado-judge-allows-twitter-in-courtroom/.

Lavoie, Denise. “OMG: Tweets, Facebook Welcome inMass.Courtroom – Boston.com.” 2 May 2011. http://www.boston.com/ae/media/articles/2011/05/02/omg_tweets_facebook_welcome_in_mass_courtroom/.

New Resolution to Open Meeting Law Faces Opposition

In Tennessee, a resolution to the open meeting law is having some opposition.  This resistance was started by a member of the Tennessee County Commissioners Association.  This new resolution to the open meeting law will make it impossible for both the general public and the media to attend certain meetings of the local government.

The man in charge of this move is Bob Barnwell, Williamson county commissioner.  At first, there was unanimous agreement favoring the law’s resolution, as all twenty-two Williamson county commissioners supported the bill this past October.  Now there is conflict regarding this bill as two counties have overthrown the resolution.

The Tennessee Municipal League is not currently involved in this dispute over the open meeting law.  The bill allows for members of the local governments to discuss information in private if a quorum is absent.  This law will allow any number of elected officials (as low as 2!) to meet together and make decisions that affect the general public without calling a real meeting.  The citizens of these counties would not be given the appropriate notice when town affairs are being decided.  This issue has not yet been brought to the attention of the White County Board of Commissioners.

OS+ LLC takes care of meeting minutes according to the Open Meeting Law requirements.  Office Solutions Plus LLC works with government agencies, cities and towns to help with office projects.  Public meetings often have plenty of meeting minutes that need to be either summarized or transcribed word-for-word.  OS Plus LLC handles such meeting minute projects.  If you need anyone to work on projects relating to meeting minutes, transcription, or depositions, please e-mail LizTice@OfficeSolutionsPlusLLC.com.

Reference

Wood, Kim Swindell. “Archives News ‘Open Meetings’ Law Could Face Challenges.” The Expositor -SpartaTennessee. 1 Dec. 2011. Web. 16 Dec. 2011. <http://spartaexpositor.com/articles/2011/12/01/news/doc4ed78f059f2d1437121815.txt&gt;.

Massachusetts Open Meeting Law

Not long ago, a new section to the Massachusetts Open Meeting Law was added.  Beforehand, a lot of town business was taken care of without as much input from the citizens of the town.  There wasn’t much announcement on the specifics of each town meeting and citizens did not know what would be discussed at each meeting.  Attorney General Martha Coakley changed this.

Coakley enforced a new provision throughout the state.  All public business must now be communicated through specific channels to the general public.  However, some information such as distribution of reports or documents will not be provided.  The way these announcements are made is either posted through hard copy or through electronic format. 

Democracy depends on the open communication between the government and the people.  Citizens have the right to knowledge of specific governmental actions.  This law focuses on having most government meetings open to the general public.  There are some exceptions to keep government workers from having every single discussion open to comments from the public.  Any document handled at each meeting has to be filed with a folder of information on that meeting.  Any letters, requests, proposals, or files must be available for the public to see.  Overall, this law has provided a great channel of communication between citizens and the government.

Office Solutions Plus LLC takes part in helping government agencies, towns, and cities with such public meetings.  OS+ handles meeting minutes within the government sector.  We also take part in summarizing what has happened during a meeting.  These summaries are put up in town for every citizen to see what has happened at the last meeting.  In this way, OS+ takes part in facilitating communications between the government and the people. 

OS+ satisfy all of the Open Meeting Law requirements and handle meeting recording and transcribing.  OS+ handles meeting minutes for cities, towns, committees, and even corporate meetings.  As mentioned, OS+ handles either verbatim or summarized transcription.  So Office Solutions Plus does handle word-for-word transcripts!  OS+ also scans meeting documents electronically for your record and can create an electronic copy of your meeting.  To find out more, please email LizTice@OfficeSolutionsPlusLLC.com or leave a comment!

To learn more about the Open Meeting Law, take a look at this video: