They bear close watching by an informed public. I guarantee that the public would be amazed at what goes on in some court rooms.”
The trials of the former President would garner huge TV ratings, just like the Watergate Hearings and the O.J. Simpson trial. Over 150 million viewers, 57 % of the country, watched the live verdict of the Simpson trial.
Back in 1997 when I was a practicing attorney in Louisiana, I participated in the state’s first televised trial before the Louisiana Supreme Court. A state senator was opposing my authority to impound the automobiles of uninsured drivers. I was the elected state Insurance Commissioner at the time, and represented the state in our effort to uphold the impoundment law. The issue was important to the vast majority of Louisianans, and I strongly felt that the public was entitled to hear the arguments and watch the trial in progress. No one pandered to the cameras, and the entire courtroom procedure was straightforward and dignified Despite a strongly emotional and controversial issue at stake, the proceedings were televised without a hitch.
Harvard law professor and criminal defense attorney Alan Dershowitz put it this way: “Live television coverage may magnify the faults in the legal system and show it warts and all. But in a democracy, the public has the right to see its institutions in operation, close-up. Moreover, live television coverage generally brings out the best, not the worst in judges, lawyers, and other participants. The video camera helps to keep the system honest by keeping it open.”
America prides itself in being an open society that protects and encourages the public’s right to know. Too often, courtrooms have become bastions of secrecy where the public has little understanding of how the system works and how verdicts are reached.
The video camera serves as a check and balance. We can better keep the system honest by keeping it open and easily available to the public. It’s time to turn on the cameras.
Peace and Justice Jim Brown
Jim Brown’s syndicated column appears each week in numerous newspapers throughout the nation and on websites worldwide. You can read all his past columns.