You arrived at this page by selecting:Don't take notes at court hearings (26/04/10)
I was recently at court and while I was waiting I decided to read the various notices and warnings which were plastered around the waiting area walls. One of these notices was a standard one warning people that while they were attending court they were not permitted to take photos, video tape or tape record the proceedings. These kind of notices I am used to seeing but a new one certainly caught my eye which stated that you were not permitted to take notes. This one I have not noticed before.
Most people who attend court take notes in one form or another. Within a courtroom you will find solicitors who take notes or have someone there to take notes for them. You will find reporters who do nothing but take notes in order to report back to the public on what is happening in any particular court case. It seems rather odd to me that this notice was now saying you cannot take notes of any kind.
I appreciate the issues surrounding people video recording or tape recording court proceedings. From my own experience, clients can bring recordings to me and expect that this particular piece of evidence is a cut and dry, true reflection of their side of the story and will bring them a quick, successful conclusion to their dispute with no questions asked. The truth is, it rarely does. Recordings can throw up a whole new set of questions which are thrown into the mix. Recordings can be edited and it is difficult to see or hear the full picture. You cannot take into consideration all circumstances such as body language, tone and the context in which things were said. Especially before and after the recorder is switched on and off.
We don't have courtroom broadcasts like they do in America. All you usually are shown are artist's impressions of courtroom proceedings and a reporters interpretation of events. However, the courts themselves record the proceedings through an official transcriber. If you want a full transcript of what happened then you can get one without a problem. I say without a problem, that is if you have hundreds of pounds to pay for one. Why it costs so much I will never know. If I took my own tape recording and got someone to type it up for me back at the office it would cost tens of pounds not hundreds. I hope the courts are not just trying to protect and preserve their jobs for transcribers and courtroom artists. It is still possible to use extracts from a transcript such as this which might be misleading anyway so I don't understand all the secrecy. Parliament is broadcast on T.V using the appropriate safeguards etc when necessary so why can't they do the same with courtroom proceedings. In principle I don't see anything wrong with it.
By John Wilson
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