Fla. Paper Fights Judge's Order Banning Blog Coverage of Murder Trial

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It suddenly went dark for the 1,309 people following The Jacksonville (Fla.) Times-Union blog coverage of the murder trial of three men charged with the shooting death of 8-year-old DreShawna Davis in 2006.

Circuit Judge L. Page Haddock ordered a Times-Union reporter to stop using a laptop computer to cover the trial because it was a "distraction" both to him and the jury. Since a 1979 Florida Supreme Court ruling, a single pooled video camera has been used to cover high-profile cases, but the decision pre-dated the Internet.

The Times-Union reporter blogged the opening statements in the trial before being ordered to shutdown his laptop.  The newspaper plans to appeal Judge Haddock's order.