Cameras in the Courts courtroom needed,” said Missouri Clerk of Court Jim Woodward.305 “It will be interesting to see how many times we’ll have the opportunity to actually do the videotaping because of the limitations that are designed into the study and the requirements for consent and concurrence of the presiding courts,” Woodward added. 306 The District of Guam has been consulting on proposed language for a rule change.307 Frances Tydingco-Gatewood, Chief Judge of the Guam federal court,308 said that while she is skeptical of cameras in courts, especially in criminal trials, “It appears to me that some people definitely want this. It appears we will just have to test it.”309
Reaction Reaction outside the courts to the latest federal experiment with cameras has been mixed. “There’s no doubt this change shows significant progress. But what’s most remarkable to me is that they are doing it almost 20 YEARS after their own experiment said it would be a fine idea,” said Lucy Dalglish, Executive Director of the Reporters Committee for “We ought to be able to cover court Freedom of the Press.310 “Having cameras in the courtroom seems almost quaint in comproceedings the way we cover parison with today’s tweeters and bloggers,” she added. “The courts may have wished they congressional hearings. What are had allowed broadcast of full trials all along they afraid of ?” rather than 140-character reports of trials.”311 “Nevertheless,” she added, “I’m glad to see there are so many [courts] from all over the country [in the program]. I’m sure they’ll find the cameras unobtrusive and very helpful in showing the public that very high quality justice gets done in the federal courts.”312 Bruce Collins, general counsel of C-SPAN, said that the program’s guidelines give judges and the parties too much control.313 “The judges are showing no courage in this, compared to the states,” Collins said. “We ought to be able to cover court proceedings the way we cover congressional hearings. What are they afraid of?”314 305. Id. 306. Id. 307. E-mail from David J. Madden, supra note 298. 308. Tydingco-Gatewood is also the only federal judge in the district; there is also a magistrate judge. See 48 U.S.C. § 1424 (2011) (establishing federal District Court of Guam). 309. Brett Kelman, Cameras enter civil court, Pacific Daily News, June 9, 2011, http://www.guampdn. com/article/20110610/NEWS01/106100312. Judge Tydingco-Gatewood also said that she would prefer to allow journalists to control their own cameras, rather than follow the guidelines’ requirement that court personnel operate court-owned cameras, and that she will “pursue” that possibility. Id. 310. Email from Lucy Dalglish, Executive Director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press (May 16, 2011) (emphasis in the original). 311. Id. 312. Email from Lucy Dalglish, Executive Director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press (June 9, 2011). 313. Tony Mauro, Restrictive Rules Announced for Federal Courts Camera Experiment, The BLT: Blog of the Legal Times, June 8, 2011, http://legaltimes.typepad.com/blt/2011/06/restrictive-rules-announced-for-federal-courts-camera-experiment.html. C-SPAN has long campaigned for cameras to be allowed in federal courts, especially the U.S. Supreme Court. See C-SPAN Timeline: Cameras in Court, http://www.c-span.org/The-Courts/Cameras-in-The-Court-Timeline/. 314. Id. Like the federal camera experiment, cameras in the House and Senate chambers are operated by personnel employed by those bodies, not by the media. C-SPAN has long sought to operate the cameras Reynolds Courts & Media Law Journal
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