Media Village Expected for Zimmerman Trial In Florida

Orlando Sentinel graphic

With the George Zimmerman murder trial just one week away, a village of satellite TV trucks is about to pop up outside the Seminole County criminal courthouse in Sanford, FL.

For months, courthouse personnel and others have been getting ready for what's expected to be one of the most-watched trials of the year and the biggest in Seminole County history.

Mostly according to the Orlando Sentinel, they've tried to figure out how to prepare for the crush of people expected to descend on the 215,000-square-foot building once Zimmerman's second-degree-murder trial begins June 10.

County officials have strategized over how to make sure there's enough electricity, Wi-Fi and radio-frequency capacity for the multitudes about to descend on the $45 million building.

"It's a big deal," said Steve Hyvonen, news director at WKMG-Channel 6, who plans to have 15 staffers at the trial every day. "It's a very big deal."

And it's a challenge for the 9-year-old building, built by county officials who had no idea of the demands that would be placed on it because of a confrontation one rainy evening between Zimmerman, a Neighborhood Watch volunteer with a gun, and Trayvon Martin, a 17-year-old high-school junior.

More than 200 journalists will be covering the trial, a spokeswoman for trial Judge Debra S. Nelson. The most visible sign will be the village of TV satellite trucks and temporary studios on the courthouse grounds.

Orlando Sentinel graphic

Local and national news organizations have overseen tree trimming — to make sure technicians can beam a signal from the courtroom to their trucks — and hired contractors to put up portable buildings, haul in temporary generators and install portable toilets.

They've also hired private-security guards to patrol the village and have set up nearby day care for journalists and news-crew members with children.

"It's a significant event not just in Central Florida — it's a significant event nationally," said Matt Parcell, news director at WFTV-Channel 9.

He and other local news directors would not say how much they'll spend on trial coverage, but he put the cost of setting up Channel 9's temporary studio and satellite-truck operations at "well into the tens of thousands of dollars."

The trial is expected to last four to six weeks.

Many news organizations will carry the trial live on their websites. Local television news directors would not spell out how much of their regular daytime programming they'd replace with live trial coverage.

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