Judge Orr made his second appearance yesterday at the Taney County courthouse. The 31st Circuit has yet to post local court rules yet no changes are expected (Associate Judges have made no requests for changes in the rules). After an incident with a local reporter - ....let me stop here.
There are no reporters at the Taney County Courthouse. I neither confirm or deny that a judge criticized a KY3 reporter for a false report regarding sentencing in a case last week. "We're not allowed to defend ourselves", might have been said by the judge who by law is not allowed to defend himself. In a possibly related conversation Presiding Judge Orr was asked, "What can the media do?". A judge most definetly stated, "be here to understand what's really going on". Neither the Springfield News-leader nor KY3 was there to hear the comment or report on action taken on several murder trials and will most likely wait for a press release to report on court activity....
When a public official or office decides it's time to tell the public something it will be blindly regurgitated for consumption. I would like to publicly apologize for the regional media outlets failure to make an effort to "report news" and thank them for making sure I know what Paris Hilton is wearing and the relationship status of Britney Spears.
A media coordinator who doesn't know the color of the rug at the Taney County Courthouse will most likely be assigned next week. In support of my comrades and to ensure the national trend continues this post will not contain what was actually witnessed.
I've been assigned to cover a murder trial next week at the Christian County Courthouse. All the media outlets will be there. I'm sure of it...press releases will be issued at 11.
