A Note to Readers of the Dr. Murray Prelm Coverage, II

I just wanted to AGAIN say, thank you to all of you who are reading T&T's coverage of the Dr. Conrad Murray's prelim.

For those of you who are new to reading T&T's in-depth trial coverage, please be aware that I'm just a single person. I'm not affiliated with any news organization or mainstream media (MSM) and I have very few personal connections among the accredited reporters covering this case from all over the world. Keep in mind that the MSM has lots of staff in the background to help them check facts, get the spelling of witnesses names and drugs correct and verify the exact statements of the witnesses. I don't have that luxury. I do the best I can. For those reporters who are getting inside the courtroom, they can see first hand how the witnesses present themselves and how the family reacts to testimony. It's one of the things I like to report to my readers and what I'm really missing by not being inside the courtroom, directly.

I am in a different courtroom, far away at the other end of the hall. It's not even convenient for me to hang around Judge Pastor's courtroom until it's time to go in, so I can get my impression of the witnesses and family during breaks because I have a limited amount of time to get back inside the overflow courtroom before the doors are locked.

I'm watching the trial up on a video screen. It's grainy, and the sound is not the best. Sometimes, we were not getting a clear view of the witness stand depending on how the camera was situated. The Public Information Office (PIO) has made a correction with the angle of the camera so that it has a better view of the witness stand and it should be better next week. They are working as best they can on getting us the best sound possible in the overflow courtroom.

CaliGirl9 and I are still working out the "kinks" of having her edit my entries. Seems the program she's using to put a polish edit means I can't go in after her in Blogger and do any further edit. Consequently, I've got some witness numbering wrong where all of Murray's current and former mistresses testified. We hope to find a solution around the editing issue and get these problems cleaned up today.

Please understand that although CaliGirl9 has graciously agreed to help with the edits, she still has a full time job and personal responsibilities. She can't devote the time I'm putting into this prelim, so her edits will probably be coming in the evenings, Pacific Time. Because of that, I'm reminding everyone that if you plan to copy unedited content to another website, I'm politely asking again, that you please make sure you have the complete unedited draft entry notice posted at the top of my entries within the text of the other website post, and link backs to the specific post. That way, when content goes out on the web attributed to T&T (me), it can be clearly seen on the web site if the text you've copied is a draft or the final, edited copy. Please be aware that I'm still finding Michael Jackson fan web sites and blogs that are copying unedited text and not including the unedited draft notice.

In our spare time, we are checking out the various sites that are linking to T&T. The T&T staff is quite amazed at the number fan sites out there on the web... Although most of the linking is coming from the US, so far T&T has had hits from 35 different countries!!! The T&T staff really appreciates all of you who want to have a "picture" of what's going on during this preliminary hearing, and thank you all for reading our in-depth trial reporting.

If you have questions, please do not hesitate to ask. I might not be able to answer right away, but I do read the comments and will try to answer questions as soon as and as best as I can. All the T&T staff ask is, that you be respectful in your comment, and understand that we are not obligated to publish all comments.

In closing, I'd like to point T&T readers to my good friend, Steven Mikulan's limited coverage of Dr. Murray's prelim. Steven, who was with the LA WEEKLY for about 20 years, is currently providing some trial coverage for the online site, THE WRAP. I've seen first hand, respected reporters and even defense attorneys compliment Steven on his witty slant and unique reporting style. Even the late Dominick Dunne of VANITY FAIR loved Steven's writing and made sure to read his Spector trial coverage every day. You can read his latest piece, Michael Jackson, Conrad Murray and the Stripper, HERE.

ETA: Steven's latest article, dated 1/9/2011 can be found HERE.