Without cameras to go live, the Trump trial is proving the potency of live blogs as news tools

NEW YORK (AP) — They watched from the courtroom or via closed-circuit television in an overflow room — roughly 140 reporters, most with laptops or other silenced electronic devices, serving up news at its most elemental and in rapid-fire fashion.

There were utterances posted a few seconds after they left a lawyer’s mouth. Observations on how Donald Trump is reacting. Tidbits on what testimony is causing jurors to scribble notes. “Let me give you some quotes to make you feel like you’re inside the courtroom,” MSNBC’s Yasmin Vossoughian said before reading the reports of colleagues.

Trump’s hush money trial is illustrating the potency of live blogs as a news tool — by necessity.

Television and text journalism are normally two very different mediums. Yet because New York state rules forbid camera coverage of trials and the former president’s case has such high interest, blogs are emerging as the best way to communicate for both formats.

PRESENTING LITTLE PIECES OF THE NEWS

During opening arguments in the case on Monday, CNN used one-third of its television screen to display short printed updates of what was going on, written by its three journalists stationed at the Manhattan courthouse. MSNBC did something similar with onscreen “chyrons” — superimposed text.

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