Rule 1910 Broadcasting, Recording and Photography in the Courtroom

Temperate conduct of judicial proceedings is essential to the fair administration of justice. The recording and reproduction of a proceeding should not distort or dramatize the proceeding.

See the Internal Operating Procedures of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania and the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania regarding broadcasting of proceedings by the Pennsylvania Cable Network.

In implementing this rule, the following guidelines shall apply:

a. Officers of Court. The judge has the authority to direct whether broadcast equipment may be taken within the courtroom. The broadcast news person should advise the tipstaff prior to the start of a court session that he or she desires to electronically record and/or broadcast live from within the courtroom. The tipstaff may have prior instructions from the judge as to where the broadcast reporter and/or camera operator may position themselves. In the absence of any directions from the judge or tipstaff, the position should be behind the front row of spectator seats by the least used aisleway or other unobtrusive but viable location.

b. Pooling. Unless the judge directs otherwise, no more than one TV camera should be taking pictures in the courtroom at any one time. Where coverage is by both radio and TV, the microphones used by TV should also serve for radio and radio should be permitted to feed from the TV sound system. Multiple radio feeds, if any, should be provided by a junction box outside of the courtroom, such as in the adjacent public hallway. It should be the responsibility of each broadcast news representative present at the opening of each session of court to achieve an understanding with all other broadcast representatives as to who will function at any given time, or, in the alternative, how they will pool their photographic coverage. This understanding should be reached outside the courtroom and without imposing on the judge or court personnel.

Broadcast coverage outside the courtroom should be handled with care and discretion, but need not be pooled.

c. Broadcast Equipment. All running wires used should be securely taped to the floor. All broadcasting equipment should be handled as inconspicuously and quietly as reasonably possible. Sufficient file and/or tape capacities should be provided to obviate film and/or tape changes except during court recess. No camera should give any indication of whether it is or is not operating, such as the red light on some studio cameras. No additional lights should be used without the specific approval of the presiding judge, and then only as he may specifically approve.

d. Decorum. Broadcast representatives’ dress should not set them apart unduly from other trial spectators. Camera operators should not move tripod-mounted cameras except during court recesses. All broadcast equipment should be in place and ready to function no less than five minutes before the beginning of each session of court.

C. Law Enforcement Officers, Sheriff’s Department Officers, and Judicial Security Officers.

(1) Unless expressly prohibited by local rule or order of court as authorized by Subsection (5), and except as otherwise provided in this Subdivision C, officers of law enforcement agencies, sheriffs and deputy sheriffs, and judicial security officers (referred to collectively as ‘‘Officers’’) may wear body cameras as part of their standard equipment and operate them as permitted by law or by state or local court rule, and as may be further authorized under the policies of the agency with which the Officer is associated.

(2) No body camera may be activated in a courtroom during judicial proceedings except when an Officer, in his or her professional opinion, determines that there is an actual or imminent emergency situation warranting activation in the ordinary course of his or her duties. In such an emergency situation, an Officer may activate his or her body camera until such time as, in his or her professional judgment, the emergency situation has concluded.

(3) When an Officer activates a body camera in a courtroom as permitted by paragraph (2), he or she shall verbally notify the presiding judge at the first reasonable opportunity after the body camera has been activated. Also, within one business day of the emergency incident, the Officer or his or her supervisor shall provide to the presiding judge a written report of the circumstances surrounding the activation of the body camera, including the times of activation and deactivation and an explanation of the Officer’s actions. The presiding judge shall promptly share the activation report with judicial district court administration. The activation report also shall be provided to the law enforcement agency with which the Officer is associated.

(4) Any recording made in a courtroom during a judicial proceeding may not be released to anyone outside the court and the law enforcement agency with which the Officer is associated without the express written approval of the president judge of the court. Use and dissemination of a recording made under this Subdivision C in connection with law enforcement activity shall require the express written approval of the president judge.