A coalition of media outlets that includes including ABC, CBS, CNN, C-SPAN and numerous others is requesting video and audio access to the courtroom where Donald Trump will stand trial for election conspiracy charges next year.
Among the options the news agencies are requesting include livestreaming the trial on YouTube.
Filed Thursday in federal court, this request for access, if granted, would go against the typical prohibition observed by district courts when it comes to any kind of electronic recording of trials.
The trial is scheduled to start March 4, presided over by U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan.
Coalition attorneys wrote in the petition that “the prosecution of a former president, now a presidential contender, on charges of subverting the electoral process presents the strongest possible circumstances for continuous public oversight of the justice system.”
They added: “That oversight, rooted in decades of First Amendment precedent and sound judicial policy, will be functionally illusory without audiovisual access to these proceedings.”
The proposal asks for live broadcasting from the courtroom, or that the court “publish on YouTube its internally administered audiovisual livestreams and recordings of the proceedings.” The petition also requested that the court release audio and visual recordings at the end of each day during the trial.
C-SPAN released a statement Thursday stating that it had joined the coalition and petition, “urging greater media access to former President Donald Trump’s historic upcoming trial.” The statement said that C-SPAN and the coalition are asking for this special exception to normal court policy “due to the uniquely high public interest in this case and the unprecedented nature of a trial of a former president.”
Attorneys for the coalition stated that the prosecution opposes the request, but that Trump’s lawyers have not responded.
The full list of organizations that are part of the coalition include:
- Advance Publications, Inc.,
- American Broadcasting Companies, Inc. d/b/a ABC News,
- The Associated Press,
- Bloomberg L.P.,
- Cable News Network, Inc.,
- CBS Broadcasting, Inc., (letter only)
- Dow Jones & Company, publisher of The Wall Street Journal,
- The E.W. Scripps Company (operator of Court TV),
- Los Angeles Times Communications LLC,
- National Association of Broadcasters,
- National Cable Satellite Corporation d/b/a C-SPAN,
- National Press Photographers Association,
- News/Media Alliance,
- The New York Times Company,
- POLITICO LLC,
- Radio Television Digital News Association,
- Society of Professional Journalists,
- TEGNA Inc.,
- Univision Networks & Studios, Inc.
- The Washington Post
