Court of Appeal TV to begin today

Broadcasting from the Court of Appeal begins today, with judges and lawyers being filmed from strategically placed cameras.

Funded jointly by the BBC, ITN, Press Association and Sky News, a 'court video journalist' will operate the production equipment and mobile cameras.

According to a joint statement from the media companies, a number of safeguards have been introduced, including a 70 second delay in some live broadcasts to allow the removal of footage which might breach reporting restrictions.

There will no coverage of private discussions between judges and counsel, and judges can suspend broadcasting if it is in the interests of justice.

The statement said footage can only be used in a news and current affairs context, and not in other genres such as 'satire, entertainment or commercial use in advertising'.

John Ryley, head of Sky News, said: "After a long campaign, this is hopefully just the first step towards opening up most courtrooms to cameras and giving everyone a seat in the public gallery of our judicial system.

"Seeing justice being done will no longer be restricted to those members of the public who have the opportunity and time to go to court.

"We anticipate that the next step should be to allow the filming of sentencing remarks in criminal trials, which the coalition government envisaged when it first announced the lifting of the camera ban two years ago."

Justice minister Shailesh Vara described the arrival of cameras in the Court of Appeal as a "landmark moment that will give the public the opportunity to see and hear the decisions of judges in their own words. It is another significant step towards achieving our aim of having an open and transparent justice system."

The Lord Chief Justice, Lord Thomas, added: "My fellow judges and I welcome the start of broadcasting from the Court of Appeal. The Court of Appeal has, of course, been open to the public and to journalists for a long time."

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