Police reporter Jennifer Wheeler at the Galesburg Register-Mail may have become the first Illinois journalist to gain access to a state trial court as a blogger when she covered the Nicholas Sheley murder trial there in October.
Wheeler blogged constantly through the proceedings, about every 10 minutes, and attracted more than 1,200 reader/followers at one point, said her editor, Tom Martin, writing in "Presslines" from the Illinois Press Association.
Judge James Stewart granted permission for Wheeler's coverage via the newspaper's galesburg.com web site after the newswoman verbally requested the access.
