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Harvey Weinstein Has Been Convicted. Here's How To Follow What Comes Next.

by Caroline Burke
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Harvey Weinstein's trial began on Jan. 6 in New York City, two years after dozens of sexual assault allegations poured out against him, igniting the watershed #MeToo Movement online (though activist Tarana Burke founded the original movement in 2006). Weinstein faced five counts of sex crimes in this trial, and a possible life prison sentence if found guilty. Now that jurors have delivered a verdict in the New York Weinstein trial, you'll need to know how to follow what comes next — because this story is far from over.

Weinstein pleaded not guilty to all of the charges against him. On Feb. 24, he was found guilty on two charges of sexual assault, and found not guilty of the most severe charge, predatory sexual assault. Weinstein now faces at least five years in prison, and a maximum of 29 years in prison, The Washington Post reports. His sentencing is scheduled to take place on March 11.

Though Weinstein's New York trial has reached a tentative conclusion, he faces a whole other set of charges in Los Angeles Court. Prosecutors in Los Angeles charged Weinstein in early January with the alleged rape of one woman and the alleged sexual assault of another. A date has not yet been set for the Los Angeles hearing, and Weinstein has consistently denied wrongdoing in the past.

At a news conference in early January, Los Angeles District Attorney Jackie Lacey said, per NPR, "We believe the evidence will show that the defendant used his power and influence to gain access to his victims and then commit violent crimes against them." If convicted of the charges laid out against him by Los Angeles prosecutors, Weinstein faces up to 28 years in prison, NPR reports, in addition to whatever amount he's given in March for his New York convictions.

For those who are interested in staying up to date on Weinstein's New York sentencing, as well as his Los Angeles trial, it might feel overwhelming to keep track of everything. Luckily, you can set up some hacks on Twitter and through Google to make sure you're staying on top of everything that happens. This includes knowing who to follow for updates, and cutting through the noise online.

Here are just several quick and easy ways to follow the Weinstein trial as it moves forward during the rest of 2020:

Follow Journalists & News Analysts On Twitter

A large number of journalists are likely to cover Weinstein's Los Angeles trial closely, including Ronan Farrow, Irin Carmon, Jodi Kantor, Hilary Rosen, and more. You can also follow the actual news organizations that the journalists work for, including The New York Times, CNN, The Washington Post, The New Yorker, and the The Los Angeles Times, just to name a few.

The official Twitter accounts for the Women's March and Time's Up are options too. If you want, you can even make a list on Twitter of accounts to follow so that you can keep their tweets all in one easily accessible feed.

Make A Twitter List

Caroline Burke

Creating a Twitter list can help you group all of the accounts you're using to stay up to date on Weinstein-related news. All you have to do is click on the list icon on your Twitter dashboard (it looks like a piece of notepaper and is located directly above your profile icon), then click the top right icon to make a new list.

Once you've made your list, you can add accounts to it by going to the account you want to add, selecting the ellipses button, and clicking on "Add/Remove From Lists."

Keep An Eye Out For Live Update Blogs

A lot of news sites offer live update blogs for big events, and the Weinstein trial certainly counts as a big event. Here are some networks that offer live update pages on Weinstein:

Set Up A Google News Alert

If you want, you can set up a Google news alert for the Weinstein trial so that you get daily updates about whatever has been published on the topic that day. To set up a Google Alert, all you have to do is go to google.com/alert, and type in the search phrase you want to be alerted for.

In this instance, it could be something like "Harvey Weinstein Los Angeles trial," "Harvey Weinstein sentencing update," or anything similar. You can set the parameters around what you want to see, and boom — you're getting a daily update on the trial to your email inbox. This is especially helpful for if a sentencing date or trial schedule changes.

Use Hashtags To Get Specific Information

A great way to stay on top of Weinstein's sentencing and upcoming Los Angeles trial is by searching hashtags around the topic on Twitter. This will allow you to stay up to date not just on what's happening in court, but also how the cultural conversation is unfolding around it. You simply search a hashtag like #HarveyWeinstein or #HarveyWeinsteinTrial on Twitter. Or, you can be more specific, and search something like #Weinsteinsentencing, or #WeinsteinLosAngelesTrial.

If you want to only see tweets by verified accounts, you can add "filter:verified" to your search bar. That way, you might even end up finding more journalists and Twitter accounts to follow throughout the trial.

As you keep track of the trial, you can also encourage your friends to do the same. That way, you can all share knowledge with one another as you come across it.

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