These tweets from Karen Townsend and Elizabeth Scalia reminded me that we have at least one trial in progress in the United States that the media has failed to sensationalize. It has issues of terrorism, betrayal, mass murder, and religious extremism within it, so why do we hear so little about … Nidal Hasan?

https://twitter.com/penguinponders/status/356745607102210048

“@penguinponders: There is a trial on at Ft Hood involves terrorism &the military. Where's the 24/7 coverage on that?” / i did no know that!

— Elizabeth Scalia (@TheAnchoress) July 15, 2013

That prompted me to do a little research into the Fort Hood shooting court-martial to see how much coverage it has received so far.  The answer is … not much.  The pre-trial voir dire has entered its second week, but the only news outlet interested at this point is the Associated Press.  The three updates today I did manage to find all came from the AP:

Jury selection enters its second week in the murder trial of the Army psychiatrist charged in the 2009 Fort Hood shooting rampage.

Six new potential jurors will be brought in from Army posts nationwide for questioning Monday for the Fort Hood trial of Maj. Nidal Hasan, who’s serving as his own attorney. Ten potential jurors remain from a group of 20 questioned last week, when jury selection began Tuesday.

The search also dug up this nugget from last week, explaining that Hasan rejected Ramsey Clark as his attorney:

Former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark says he won’t represent the Fort Hood shooting suspect during jury selection starting Tuesday.

Clark told the Austin American-Statesman (http://bit.ly/18J3EV3) Monday that he might step in as Maj. Nidal Hasan’s attorney when testimony starts in August. Hasan is currently serving as his own attorney but can get assistance from his former defense attorneys.

Clark offered his services to Hasan and discussed the case with him at the jail over the weekend and on Monday.

Clark represented Saddam Hussein and Slobodan Milosevic in the past.  Perhaps Clark’s track record on those cases failed to impress Hasan.

Since this is a court-martial rather than a civilian criminal trial, I don’t expect to see live broadcasts during the proceedings once the jury is seated. It does appear, though, that reporters can attend the sessions and publish stories about them.  I’m wondering why we’re not seeing the talking heads flocking to Austin for this case yet.