Courts on TV

From this month broadcasting will be allowed for criminal and civil cases in the Court of Appeal, where filming will be allowed of the legal arguments and the final judgment.

Courts Minister Helen Grant said: ‘Justice must be seen to be done, that is why we are introducing limited television broadcasting in courts. ‘We are opening up the court process to allow people to see and hear the judges’ decisions in their
own words, but we will also ensure that victims and witnesses will not be filmed and will remain protected.’

The Government then intends to extend filming to allow the broadcast of sentencing remarks in the Crown Court. However victims, witnesses, offenders and jurors will continue to be protected, and will not be part of broadcasts.

Proceedings in the country’s highest court, The Supreme Court, are already streamed live on the internet.