17 top journos to follow on Twitter during the Oscar Pistorius bail hearing

The world has pretty much been glued to Twitter since news broke that renowned paralympic athlete Oscar Pistorius had apparently shot and killed his girlfriend.

The story continued to occupy large portions of space on people’s timelines as Pistorius’ bail hearing begun. With all that noise though, it can sometimes be difficult to separate the noise and speculation from the facts being reported by people at the scene.

There are however a select few quality journalists worth following during the ongoing proceedings. Finding out who those journalists are on your own can however be a difficult task. That’s why we’re giving you a list of 24 of the best hacks to guide you through the hearing. Here they are, in no particular order.

1. Barry Bateman — 112 069 followers (Eye Witness News)

Bateman has been covering the case since the morning of the actual shooting. His live reporting has seen him gain over 50 000 followers since the story broke.

#OscarPistorius Botha says he believes Oscar will run. There are laughs from the gallery. BB

— Barry Bateman (@barrybateman) February 20, 2013

2. Lydia Polgreen — 23 980 followers (New York Times)

Polgreen is the New York Times’ Johannesburg Bureau Chief. Like many, she thinks the investigation done so far on the case seems to have been sloppy:

Defense team found a spent bullet in the bathroom that the forensics team had missed, Roux says. More evidence of sloppiness? #Pistorius

— Lydia Polgreen (@lpolgreen) February 20, 2013

3. Daniel Howden — 9 116 Followers (The Independent)

Howden writes for UK-based newspaper The Independent and occasionally does pieces for The Economist. His reporting of events at the bail hearing has been pretty straightforward and matter of fact.

Magistrate: When did u realise that the suspect was the well known athlete #oscarpistorius? Detective doesn’t understand the question

— Daniel Howden (@howden_africa) February 20, 2013

4. Rohit Kachroo — 6 880 followers (ITV)

Kachroo works for UK-based independent TV network ITV. His tweets attempt to provide some colour and sense of atmosphere for those following the hearing:

Pistorius stands as today’s hearing closes. He seems composed. Hearing resumes tomorrow

— Rohit Kachroo (@RohitKachrooITV) February 20, 2013

5. Karyn Maughan — 26 673 followers (eNCA)

Maughan is a legal journalist and, as such, definitely worth following through the remainder of proceedings.

Botha admits he walked through #OscarPistorius crime scene without feet covers, possibly contaminating it. @encanews

— Karyn Maughan (@karynmaughan) February 20, 2013

6. Andrew Harding — 63 722 followers (BBC)

The BBC Africa correspondent has been particularly good at tweeting the opinions of experts around the case.

VP of law society here tells me #OscarPistorius still has “long battle ahead.” But predicts bail will be granted. Defence had “v good day.”

— andrew harding (@BBCAndrewH) February 20, 2013

7. Lucy Bannerman — 1 874 followers (The Times)

Bannerman may have one of the smaller followings on the list but the Times journalist has an eye for details that anyone following the case would likely find interesting.

Confusion over which calls made from which phones.Police say no calls made from 2iphones, nor 2 Blackberrys, they found at scene.#Pistorius

— Lucy Bannerman (@Lbannermantimes) February 20, 2013

8. Alex Crawford — 32 151 followers (Sky News)

If you’re looking for a blow-by-blow account of court proceedings then Crawford is well worth a follow.

#0scarPistorius Botha steps down from stand

— Alex Crawford (@AlexCrawfordSky) February 20, 2013

9. Alrdin Sampear — 3 888 followers (Jacaranda FM)

Like Crawford, Sampear is good for accounts of the case as it happens:

#OscarPistorius Investigator says it is possible the accuse might flee to a country with no extradition agreement

— Aldrin Sampear (@AldrinSampear) February 20, 2013

10. David Smith — 37 179 followers (The Guardian)

Smith is one of the more well-known British journalists covering the African continent. His coverage of the hearing has been professional, mixing factual account with colour and atmosphere.

Botha admits he initially said there would be “no problem” with bail but changed mind after talking to forensics about “how it went down”.

— David Smith (@SmithInAfrica) February 20, 2013

11. Johannes Myburgh — 1 668 followers (AFP)

Myburgh is big on colour and seems pretty good at reading into the emotions of those in the court room.

Pistorius defence look glib for showing up State source policeman Botha. State looks worried.

— Johannes Myburgh (@johannesmyburgh) February 20, 2013

12. Alex Eliseev — 12 338 followers (Eyewitness News)

Eyewitness news has had a pretty good handle on the case from the get-go. Eliseev is one of the organisation’s most seasoned journalists and is a good source if you want to find out about the atmosphere around the courthouse.

#OscarPistorius I’m just asking: Does Oscar know he and the sushi king are best friends? Does he feel the same way? #Kunene

— Alex Eliseev (@alexeliseev) February 20, 2013

13. Robyn Dixon — 1 222 followers (LA Times)

At the end of day two of the proceeding, Dixon voiced what many were thinking:

#Pistorius Looked like prosecution day to start out. Defense definitely won the day. Odds on him getting bail improved by police missteps

— Robyn Dixon (@latimesdixon) February 20, 2013

14. Mandy Wiener — 50 474 followers (Eyewitness News)

Wiener is no stranger to big court events. She was one of the most prominent reporters in the various proceedings following the death of mining magnate Brett Kebble. She was one of the first South African reporters to live tweet from court, but is undoubtedly finding things a little more crowded this time around.

#OscarPistorius Two big concessions this afternoon – IO says he wasn’t wearing foot coverings on scene and cops missed bullet projectile.

— Mandy Wiener (@MandyWiener) February 20, 2013

15. Peter Biles — 3 076 followers (BBC)

According to his bio, Biles has been reporting on Africa since 1976. Pretty damned seasoned then. Like many he felt that the amount of detail to come out of Pistorius’ bail hearing made it seem more like a trial.

So much detail coming out of #OscarPistorius bail hearing. Feels more like a trial.

— Peter Biles (@peterbiles) February 20, 2013

16. Aki Anistasiou — 39 233 followers (Radio 702)

A geek at heart, Anistasiou is making full use of the technology at hand to cover the court case. Among other things, he’s been tweeting panoramic pictures, and hosting Google+ hangouts.

International media filing. Panorama 360 outside court #0scarPistorius 360.io/6W72kG

— Aki Anastasiou (@AkiAnastasiou) February 20, 2013

17. Aislinn Laing — 2 751 followers (Daily and Sunday Telegraph)

Another journo who works for a UK newspaper, Laing has been in the thick of proceedings. Apparently during day two of the hearing, she sat so close to Pistorius that his own lawyer asked her to get his attention.

Botha confirms Pistorius is suing police for wrongful arrest over that incident. He was investig officer&now leading this case. Conflict?!

— Aislinn Laing(@Simmoa) February 20, 2013

Let us know if we’ve left any journalist who you think has been doing a great job of tweeting the case off this list.