Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/11/28
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]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.