RTNDA APPLAUDS MISSISSIPPI DECISION TO ALLOW CAMERAS IN COURTROOMS

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The Radio-Television News Directors Association welcomes an April 17 decision by the Mississippi Supreme Court to allow broadcast and still camera coverage in some of the state’s courtrooms.

The new rules, which go into effect July 1, will allow for broadcast and still cameras in the Mississippi Supreme Court, the Court of Appeals, chancery courts, circuit courts and county courts, at the discretion of the presiding judge. They do not, however, apply to justice courts or municipal courts, where camera coverage is still prohibited. The new rules also come with an expiration date of Dec. 31, 2004, unless they are extended by the Supreme Court.

Mississippi Supreme Court Chief Justice Edwin L. Pittman said justice courts and municipal courts were excluded from the new rules because they do not have their proceedings transcribed for purposes of appeal, and are therefore not “courts of record.” Pittman did allow, however, that if use of cameras proves successful in the courtrooms covered under the news rules, they may be extended to the justice and municipal courts.

In 2001, Mississippi became the 49th state to allow electronic coverage of any part of the state court system when it allowed online coverage of the supreme court. RTNDA has supported Mississippi broadcasters over many years in efforts to get cameras and microphones into state courts.

“It’s always encouraging to see courtrooms opened to broadcast journalists,” said RTNDA president Barbara Cochran. “Citizens in a democracy have the right to see justice carried out first-hand, and electronic coverage of court proceedings is an effective means of ensuring that right.”

The full report from Mississippi’s Media and Courts Study Committee is available online at http://www.mssc.state.ms.us/news/mediareport3.pdf. For more information on RTNDA’s efforts to open courtrooms to electronic coverage, visit http://www.rtnda.org/foi/cc.shtml. For RTNDA’s State-by-State Guide for cameras in the court, visit http://www.rtnda.org/foi/scc.shtml.

RTNDA is the world’s largest professional organization devoted exclusively to electronic journalism. RTNDA represents local and network news executives in broadcasting, cable and other electronic media in more than 30 countries.

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