When I first saw a journalist sitting in a council meeting with a tiny laptop I was shocked. A computer is not the tool of a reporter, a hack, an investigator......it is, and always has been, a pen (or pencil should it be raining) and a pad/journal/jotter etc

I knew times 'were a changing' but I didn't want them to, I wanted to ensure that the traditional pen and paper continued on, long into the future, past my days as a journalist and way way beyond.

As I sit here writing a blog on my laptop with my dongle plugged in - despite the fact I have access to WiFi - checking any emails that may come in on my new Blackberry (which I upgraded to make sure I had a letter per key to make it easier to send stories and press releases) and cursing if the landline rings because I have to get up....I feel I may have lost my way.

Not that I do not rely heavily on my pad and paper - covering the crown court twice a week ensures dozens of jotters and biros are used regularly and my shorthand skills will never be lost, but I can't say I wouldn't be tempted to take the laptop to a meeting if I knew it wasn't going to involve the need to take notes at 100 words per minute.

It can't be a bad thing, moving with the times, staying abreast of modern issues......in fact it would be a poor PR company that did not embrace the power of the internet and social media in 2010.

However, I still believe that combining the old and the new by far outweighs going with one or the other.

It is fine having someone who knows a computer inside and out, speaks about megabytes and modems and frowns when you say typewriter but what do these people do when they are covering agricultural shows in the rain? At the times when only the pencil, the pad and the power of shorthand will do?

The need is for skills past and present and I am coming to terms with the balance. My training and past experience means I excel in some areas but not necessarily in others - although I try.

Sometimes you have to have help, which for me comes in the form of my brother Michael - known as Mike if you're not his sister. He is my internet marketing consultant and if things get too technical I delegate.

Michael is the brains behind Schnipz Web Design http://webdesign.schnipz.co.uk/ and spends his spare time working on a mid-air interface prototype............you'd have to ask him!!!!

I put the information together for my clients and do my thing with the media - the human ones - and Michael can do his thing with my information to the non-human media. I am well acquainted with the likes of Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Linked-In and numerous other outlets but when it comes to "creating sites in HTML/CSS as well as within the Wordpress CMS enabling the creation of sites that include blogs & syndication"...........I call Michael.

I think the best way forward is to play on my strengths and play on the strengths of others to ensure my clients get the best service.

So anyway, back to it....I have a number of press releases to write and have to ring Michael to ask him how to change the font on a blog post when it changes because you have cut and copied something......pffft!

Crown Court

Covering a crown court is one of the really interesting aspects of the life of a local reporter. It is the place where you come face to face with murderers, rapists, abusers and many more, and watch as public justice unfolds.

Covering a trial has its interesting - and dull - moments but for me, particularly this week, I have been interested in the jury.

Not any specific jury but the subject of the jury as a whole.

I really think the abolishment of jurors would be a huge mistake. For the decision of another person's fate to lie with one man or woman - a judge - is wrong....justice is much better served when the decision has been made by 12 people in agreement.

I always like to watch the jury being selected and sworn in, seeing who is not picked, seeing who is, seeing who takes the oath on the bible and who doesn't, hearing their accents and the way they speak, watching their reaction as the charges are read out and observing them as the evidence is given.

Juries are always varied, people from different walks of life, people who are different shapes and sizes....sometimes the majority of the jury is female, sometimes male, sometimes they are old, sometimes young. I don't think I have ever seen a jury bench full of similar people...and that's the way it should be.

When you have a man on the stand accused of abusing a young girl you may think the last thing the defendant wants to see are a load of middle-aged women on the jury bench who may well have daughters the age of the victim, or a young girl who is close in age to the victim, but it doesn't really matter who the jurors are...it is all about the case, the evidence, the facts.

A single line in a trial can entirely change the outcome, sometimes as a court reporter you think you know when that it - see it in the face of the jurors, or in the face of the defence or prosecuting barrister.........

I have sat through cases where I am positive the verdict will be guilty and a firm not guilty is returned within the hour, or a case which seems so simple being discussed by a jury for days.

I have had the misfortune of hearing a defendant boasting that he did the deed moments after being found not guilty and the misfortune of seeing the reaction of the family of a defendant who continues to protest his or her innocence after the guilty verdict has been delivered.

All in all I believe justice is being done, for the most part. A jury must decide "so they are sure" that the person in the dock committed the crime they are charged with. If they are not "sure" the verdict must be not guilty.

I cannot see a fairer way really.....

Snow and Wine

Snowy, snowy, snowy....I got wet in Telford when it started to snow, got wetter in Shrewsbury when it continued to snow then stayed wet in Bayston Hill as it got heavier.
Today was busy - which is always nice - and I got an extra gigabyte on my computer which is lovely!
I took some pictures, wrote two press releases, designed two brochures, did some volunteering for the north Shrewsbury Friendly neighbours and had two meetings.
Now I am drinking wine :-)

This week has begun with a day at Shrewsbury Crown Court.

I reported on a number of plea and case management hearings and two sentencings, one a man who was locked in a petrol station by staff after attempting to steal a sausage roll and proceeded to start eating the stock while waiting for the police to arrive.....

The rest of the week will involve preparation for this year's Cosford Air Show, which is taking place on June 13. It is a double delight for me to be the press officer of the show this year because as well as feeding my love of aviation the 2010 event marks 70 years since the Battle of Britain - an historic event I have always been interested in.

I am looking forward to seeing how the show organisers will adapt the flying display to mark the battle where "so few" did "so much" for "so many".