The cameras that roll inside the courtroom for the Stephen Truscott appeal aren't the first live coverage of a case at the Ontario Court of Appeal.
In 2001, a high-profile challenge to the closure of the Hôpital Montfort in Ottawa by the then-Conservative provincial government was televised live. But that was a civil case, and Truscott is appealing a criminal conviction.
Opponents of live broadcasting of criminal court proceedings argue that live television cameras might make witnesses nervous, knowing their features and words are being broadcast as they speak.
Broadcasting Court of Appeal proceedings is less likely to have an effect as the evidence is already on the record, supporters contend.
Ontario Attorney General Michael Bryant has been somewhat of a champion of broadcasting court proceedings. He welcomed a report by a legal panel last year that called for live broadcasting of Court of Appeal and Divisional Court proceedings.
"Our justice system is ready for its close-up," Bryant said at the time.
Live from P.E.I
Across Canada, other courts have occasionally allowed live broadcasts. The Prince Edward Island Court of Appeal is among the most amenable to having its proceedings broadcast live. As well, it offers downloads of cases and testimony from the official court website.
The CBC and other Canadian media organizations have argued many times for freer access for radio and television to the country's court proceedings, including allowing the transmission of live proceedings.
Since the early 1980s, the proceedings of many legal and quasi-legal tribunals and enquiries have been televised in Canada. That includes royal commissions, immigration hearings, human rights tribunals and police complaints hearings. The Law Reform Commission of Canada and the Canadian Bar Association have long been in favour of live television cameras in courts, as long as judges can stop broadcasts in the interests of a defendant receiving a fair trial.
No 'media circuses,' we're British
Live coverage of the O.J. Simpson trial in Los Angeles in 1995 was seen by many at the time as overly lurid and dramatic. Britain's top legal official, Lord Falconer, said in 2004 that he was prepared to allow more live coverage of British court proceedings so long as trials didn't turn into "O.J. Simpson-style media circuses."
Live coverage of trials and criminal proceedings are the staple of networks like Court TV, although the U.S. Supreme Court does not allow broadcasts of cases or verdicts.
"The day you see a camera come into our courtroom, it's going to roll over my dead body," Justice David Souter once told a congressional committee holding hearings on the issue.
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Video
- Video of Ontario Court of Appeal
- Steven Truscott and lawyers respond to Court of Appeal acquittal, Aug. 28 2007. (Runs 39:13)
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Court Ruling
Related
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Media
- CBC Archives: This Hour Has Seven Days interview with Doris Truscott, Steven's mother, on March 20 1966
- The backgrounder (Runs: 3:26)
- The interview (Runs: 8:33)
- Steven Truscott news conference: Nov 29, 2001 (Runs: 1:41)
CBC stories
- CBC to televise Truscott appeal live (Jan. 18, 2007)
- Truscott case a 'mishap,' says renowned pathologist (July 7, 2006)
- Truscott witness says her police statement was wrong (July 6, 2006)
- Time of death unclear in Truscott case, doctor says (June 19, 2006)
- Tests fail to find DNA evidence in notorious 1959 murder (April 10, 2006)
- Girl's body exhumed in Truscott case (April 6, 2006)
- Report fails to exonerate Truscott (Nov. 29, 2005)
- Steven Truscott decision under fire (Oct. 29, 2004)
- Truscott decision 'step forward': Lawyer (Oct. 28, 2004)
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