Word: courtroom
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...lawyers who argued the Ligon case had another sort of stress to deal with, arising from the crush of TV cameras that descended on the courtroom. Local stations covered the trial extensively. So did a soon-to-be-launched cable channel devoted entirely to judicial proceedings. A CBS crew was there too, roaming the hallways and offices as well as the courtroom. "The whole second floor up here was just one gigantic production room," grouses Bruce Hudock, who prosecuted the case. "I definitely found it distracting...
Hudock's view may be tainted by sour grapes: Ligon was acquitted. But the prosecutor's objections cannot be totally dismissed. Courtroom trials have become TV's hottest reality-programming trend. Forty-four states currently allow cameras in the courtroom, with varying degrees of restrictions (New York's law has just expired, as legislators argue over proposed revisions to it). And starting next month, TV will for the first time be allowed into some federal courts, on an experimental basis, for civil trials...
...magazine shows like A Current Affair and Trial Watch, and occasionally as live drama on CNN. The legal bombardment is about to grow even heavier. On June 21, CBS will introduce Verdict, a prime-time series that will cover a different trial each week, using a mix of courtroom footage and interviews with the participants. (The Ligon case will be featured in one of the episodes...
...Courtroom activity will go round the clock with the July 1 debut of the Courtroom Television Network, a judicial version of CNN. The new cable channel (owned largely by Time Warner) will cover some trials live -- with play-by- play commentary from legal experts -- and others on tape in nightly wrap-up programs. The network hopes to premiere with the Los Angeles trial of four police officers charged in the videotaped beating of Rodney King...
...viewers bred on Perry Mason melodramatics, this proliferation of courtroom coverage is a healthy dose of reality. Steven Brill, chief executive of Court TV, predicts an educational windfall for people who watch his channel. "They will understand that the real world of law is not L.A. Law; nor is it Clint Eastwood catching a criminal and having some slick lawyer get the criminal off on a technicality." But TV's invasion of the courtroom raises tough questions as well. While video coverage may boost the public's understanding of the judicial process, is it quite so good for people seeking...