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Media Atwitter over Al Roker’s Twitter Photos from Jury Duty Wait

Posted May 29, 2009 8:08 AM CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss

Today show weatherman Al Roker got caught in the middle of a media storm when he took pictures of potential jurors on his iPhone yesterday and posted them to Twitter while waiting to be called for jury duty.

The postings spurred a lesson in courthouse decorum and an apology from Roker. The New York Post ran a story headlined “Oh, What a Twit!” while a story in the New York Daily News began, “Al Roker's stint on jury duty was short—and tweet.”

One photo showed potential jurors from the back while another showed a potential juror’s face, the Post story says.

The chief jury clerk asked Roker to knock off the photography, spurring Roker to acknowledge a mistake. On his Twitter page, the weatherman tried to explain his actions. "So everyone is clear, I am NOT taking pictures in the courtroom," Roker explained. "So folks need to lighten up. I am in the jury lounge."

Roker said he was “just trying to share the experience of jury duty. One that I think is important and everyone should take part in."

Court spokesman David Bookstaver put a positive spin on the faux pas. “It does a world of good to let people know about jury service and that Mr. Roker did his, just like everybody else," he told the Post.

Roker was not chosen for jury duty.

Comments

1.

Mark
May 29, 2009 8:43 AM CST

I think the real story is how lame some people’s lives are… they are following someone’s JURY DUTY experience?

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2.

Anon
May 29, 2009 10:16 AM CST

Non-celebrities would be fined or otherwise censured for doing this.  Mr. Roker gets a free pass and out of jury duty, to boot.  Not that he ever expected to have to serve.

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3.

George Patsourakos
May 29, 2009 11:24 AM CST

Al Roker acted unethically—if not illegally—by taking pictures in a courthouse of potential jurors on his iPhone and posting them to Twitter. A law needs to be passes to prevent this kind of behavior in a courthouse. If such a law already exists, then Roker needs to be charged for violating it—irrespective of his prominence.

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