Re: [Leica] Journalistic principles

["Bryan Caldwell" <bcaldwell@softcom.net>]

Eric,

My point was simply that cameras in the court room, as well as print
journalists in the court room, bring up more than just the First Amendment.
There are other Constitutional rights involved. Whenever Constitutional
rights conflict, the courts adopt certain types of balancing tests weighing
the interests involved.

Again, U.S. Constitutional issues are complicated and impossible to
accurately sum up with simple, blanket statements.

Bryan


- ----- Original Message -----
From: Eric Welch <ewelch@neteze.com>
To: <leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us>; <leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us>
Sent: Sunday, November 28, 1999 3:56 PM
Subject: Re: [Leica] Journalistic principles


> At 11:28 AM 11/28/1999 -0800, Bryan Caldwell wrote:
> >I'm also as strong a defender of the First Amendment as you will
> >find, but many people forget that defendants in criminal cases also have
> >Fifth and Sixth Amendment rights that must be balanced against the First
> >Amendment rights of the press.
>
> People seem to forget that the press protects them from the government
> (i.e. courts) as much as it informs them about what they are doing. To
> object to cameras, but not words, is ludicrous. The words are what they
end
> up yelling about most of the time. Not the pictures. I've had attorneys
ask
> me for prints while a case is on-going.
>
> And for the record, I do not defend the way TV people act, they are whole
> different issue. This is way too complex an issue for this forum, and some
> people's attitude is biased by some bad experiences with some bad
> photojournalists (note statements are made denigrating the term
> photojournalist - a sure sign of a bad argument) that has caused them to
> paint us all with a broad brush of unfair accusations. I was part of the
> Missouri Supreme court's experiment on cameras in the courtroom. I was
> appointed by them to be a part. And we were very successful, with no
> complaints on either side of the bar.
>
> THAT really is the last I'll say about it.
>
> Eric Welch
> Carlsbad, CA
>
> http://www.neteze.com/ewelch
>
> Artist seeks Boss with vision impairment.
>