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Thursday, March 22, 2007

Ind. Courts - "Courtroom camera plan fizzles"

Jon Murray of the Indianapolis Star reported Monday that the cameras in Indiana trial courts project has "fizzled." Some quotes:

The faces of Marion Superior Court Judges Robert Altice and Patricia Gifford are rarely beamed onto Central Indiana TV screens, but don't blame them for shooing cameras away from their courtrooms.

Both agreed to take part in an 18-month experiment allowing cameras and recording devices into eight courtrooms across the state. Most times, the judges said, they have no problem opening their courtrooms to cameras, but the project has fizzled because the prosecution and defense also have veto power.

Halfway through the pilot project, Indianapolis media requests have met rejection all but three times; in other cities, only two requests have succeeded.

The Indiana Broadcasters Association, which initiated the pilot project in hopes of opening all county courtrooms to cameras, is waiting for the Indiana Supreme Court's response to a request in January to modify its order. The association suggested requiring only the judge's consent.

Dan Byron, the association's general counsel, estimated 350 cases have stayed off-limits despite media interest, almost always because of defense objections. * * *

Gifford said her experience presiding over Mike Tyson's rape trial in 1992 changed her mind about cameras. In that case, a closed-circuit system broadcast a feed to another room for journalists. "I had to admit you completely forgot (the camera) was there," she said.

Altice and Gifford support taking away the veto from attorneys so that more media requests will be approved. "If you really want to do a study," Altice said, "you've got to have something to study."

Meanwhile, the NY Law Journal has a story today headlined "N.Y. Senate Committee Backs Bill to Allow Courtroom Cameras." The report concludes:
The sponsor of DeFrancisco's bill in the Assembly, Queens Democrat Mark Weprin, said he is hoping that support from Gov. Eliot Spitzer for opening courtrooms to audiovisual coverage will give the legislation an additional boost.

"It's embarrassing New York state is one of the few states where people cannot see on a television what they have a constitutional right to see in person," Weprin said.

Kennedy said her group's member newspapers want it to renew its efforts to get cameras back in courtrooms.

"With the advent of newspaper Web sites, many of which can offer full-motion video, it's becoming more imperative for our members to be able to present information to their readers in new electronic formats," Kennedy said. "What's changed for us is newspaper Web sites. Our members have become a lot more interested in seeing cameras return to the courts in New York state."

Rex Smith, editor of the Times Union newspaper in Albany, said the changing nature of the delivery of news is making New York's ban on video coverage more and more antiquated.

"Storytelling today is not just about words. It's about videos and it's about photographs," he said. "There is no reason that the courts shouldn't have access to information on all the various media platforms that they expect to get their news from these days."

Posted by Marcia Oddi on March 22, 2007 09:23 AM
Posted to Indiana Courts