In early October, RTDNA and 18 other press freedom groups and national news organizations filed two key documents seeking live audiovisual coverage of the trial in United States v. Trump, the D.C. election interference criminal case currently docketed to begin in March.
A courts committee says it lacks authority to modify a broadcasting ban in time for the historic criminal cases against the former president.
NBCUniversal filed its own request to televise Donald Trump’s election conspiracy trial, citing the extraordinary circumstances of a former president facing criminal charges. In an application filed today in U.S. District Court in Washington, NBCU’s legal team, led by Theodore Boutrous Jr., wrote that “Civil and criminal proceedings have been televised routinely for decades pursuant to rules in many state courts, with no prejudice to any party or to the administration of justice. If ever a trial were to be televised, this one should be, for the benefit of American democracy,” they wrote.
In cases of such importance for the nation, transparency has to take priority.
Donald Trump’s election conspiracy case may be billed as the trial of the century, but as things stand, the public won’t have any way of seeing or hearing it — save for going to the E. Barrett Prettyman United States Courthouse in Washington, D.C., waiting in line and hoping for a seat. Federal criminal courts long have prohibited cameras or recording devices of any kind, but the momentous nature of the Trump case already has seen Capitol Hill lawmakers argue for an exception, and a coalition of major news organizations is expected to make some sort of appeal to the judicial branch. (Susan Walsh/AP)
For once, Donald Trump doesn’t want cameras in the room. And less than 24 hours before the former president is set to be arraigned on criminal charges, a Manhattan judge mostly agreed.
New York Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan issued ruling late Monday denying media requests for TV cameras in his courtroom Tuesday afternoon. However, he will allow five pool photographers “to take still photos for several minutes” before the proceedings officially begin.
Exclusives
Monday Memo | For KMSP, Gavel-To-Gavel Chauvin Trial Coverage
The trial of Derek Chauvin, the ex-cop charged in the death of George Floyd, will be televised live in its entirety by KMSP, the Fox O&O in Minneapolis, the first time in the history of Minnesota that cameras are being allowed to show the entire live proceedings of a criminal trial.
President Donald Trump’s U.S. Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett said on Wednesday she was open to at least one sweeping change for the nation’s top judicial body — allowing cameras into the chamber for the first time in its 230-year history.
At about the same time that Chief Justice John Roberts was being sworn in to preside over the Senate impeachment trial of Donald Trump, a pair of legislators, one a current and one a former House impeachment manager, were introducing a bill that would make the default setting that “real time or near-real time [access] on the internet,” either audio or video, of all appeals courts, including the highest court in the land, would be allowed.
Benton County (Arkansas) Circuit Judge Brad Karren sentenced a local television reporter to three days in jail Tuesday after he found her in contempt of court for recording a hearing in a murder case. Nkiruka Azuka Omeronye, a reporter for KNWA-KFTA Fort Smith, Ark., admitted in court to making an audio recording during the Oct. 7 hearing in a capital-murder case.
The issue is expected to be the focus of a hearing Friday where Cook County Associate Judge Lawrence Flood will preside. Kelly is charged with 10 counts of aggravated sexual abuse. Another judge in the same courthouse has yet to decide if he’ll let cameras in court in Empire actor Jussie Smollett’s case.
Changes in court rules can come slowly, but RTDNA continues to urge access at all levels.
“It’s an issue I approach with an open mind,” Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch told the Senate Judiciary Committee Tuesday when asked about cameras in the Supreme Court.
In conjunction with Sunshine Week and timed for the opening of confirmation hearings for President Trump’s pick for the Supreme Court, the public affairs TV network C – SPAN asked strategic research firm PSB to examine public attitudes on several topics rela ted to the Court. Among the results: Fully three quarters (76%) say the court should allow TV coverage of its oral arguments, 15 percentage points higher than when PSB first measured this topic in June 2009.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) are calling for cameras to be allowed in federal courtrooms. The bipartisan duo on Wednesday introduced the Sunshine in the Courtroom Act to give all federal courts, including the Supreme Court, the option of allowing their judicial proceedings to be photographed, recorded, broadcast or televised.
Lawmakers in the House debated whether cameras should be allowed in federal courtrooms, just days after the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals live streamed audio of its hearing on President Trump’s executive order temporarily barring immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries.
The Radio Television Digital News Association is launching the latest edition of its Cameras in the Courts Guide, with completely updated information from every state and courts at the federal […]
Court officials in New York are considering updates to the rules governing the use of cameras and microphones in courtrooms. RTDNA, the National Press Photographers Association and other journalism organizations support the proposed changes, which would stress that audio-visual coverage should be allowed “to the fullest extent permissible by law.”
Five months after reminding Charlotte news executives about ground rules for cameras in the Mecklenburg County Courthouse, Superior Court Judge Richard Boner has banned photographers indefinitely after another breach of protocols.
News organizations are seeking cameras to be allowed in the courtroom to cover the trial of James Holmes, scheduled to go on trial in December on charges of killing 12 people and injuring 70 in the July 2012 attack at a Denver-area theater.
As other courts have increasingly let in cameras, open-government advocates have heightened calls for the Supreme Court to do so too. The justices, however, remain opposed to the idea.
PHOENIX (AP) — Live television coverage of Jodi Arias’ penalty phase retrial will be banned and the case will remain in Phoenix despite defense arguments that intense publicity will make […]
On Monday, April 1, Utah will transition from being one of the most restrictive states in the union for cameras in courtrooms, to one of the most open. New rules go into effect that will allow cameras, live streaming, live blogging and tweeting from courts, unless the judge gives specific compelling reasons to deny coverage. Journalists must file a request to cover court proceedings at least 24 hours in advance.
Proposed rules, if adopted, would make Utah the 47th state to allow electronic media coverage in some form in trial courts. “There can be no doubt [this] will create greater transparency, will increase Utah citizens’ knowledge and understanding of the court system, and will advance the public’s right to know as it pertains to the judicial system,” the group says.
Colo. Court Gets It Wrong In Aurora Case
Once again, the public is being denied an opportunity to witness a very important judicial event. The decision by Colorado judge William Sylvester ordering that James Holmes’ latest court appearance be closed to cameras is yet another example of how far we haven’t come in being able to shed light on one of the most basic aspects of American society — its jurisprudence system.
‘It’s Time For SCOTUS To Let Us In’
The Supreme Court of the United States will soon hear arguments for and against one of the most debated and polarizing pieces of legislation since Roe v. Wade — The Obama health care reform law. If there has ever been a time to open the Supreme Court to the citizens it serves, now is the time.
Bipartisan proponents say decisions on abortion, death penalty, health care need greater transparency.
Kenneth W. Starr, the president of Baylor University and a former federal appellate judge, solicitor general and independent counsel, argues that the benefits of increased access and transparency are many, and democracy’s first principles strongly support the people’s right to know how their government works.
In a move that could take Pennsylvania one step closer to televising its local court trials, the state Supreme Court on Monday approved, for the first time, having cameras in its courtrooms. The jump to the county court level is likely still many years away, but experts agree the decision by the high court is a step in that direction.
Minnesotans are about to get a closer look at what goes on in some courtrooms. This month, a two-year pilot project starts that loosens restrictions on the use of still and video cameras in some civil trials.
Judges can choose to permit audio recording of any court hearing in South Dakota under a rule change announced Monday by Supreme Court Justice David Gilbertson. Still and video cameras would be allowed in court only if judges, defense lawyers and prosecutors agree to allow them.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor said Monday that he would allow unobtrusive coverage of the trial of Michael Jackson’s doctor for involuntary manslaughter.
A federal appeals court has approved the televised broadcast of the Proposition 8 arguments for both C-SPAN and KGO San Francisco, a move that many consider a positive step for First Amendment rights.
