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TCOG urges Tennessee Supreme Court to allow journalists to use electronic tools in courtrooms

By Deborah Fisher|2015-08-18T07:15:09-05:00August 3, 2015|Categories: Open Courts, Tennessee Coalition for Open Government|Tags: courtroom access, courts, Rule 30|0 Comments

PRESS RELEASE For immediate release Aug. 3, 2015 Contacts: Lucian T. Pera, vice president, Tennessee Coalition for Open Government (901) 524-5278, [email protected] Deborah Fisher, executive director, Tennessee Coalition for Open Government (615) 602-4080, [email protected] NASHVILLE — The Tennessee Coalition for Open Government has filed comments with the Tennessee Supreme Court, urging it to change its proposed revision of Tennessee Supreme Court Rule 30 so that journalists can use electronic tools in courtrooms, while still allowing for regulation of video or audio recordings. Tennessee Supreme Court Rule 30 was adopted in 1996 to govern the use of cameras in the courtroom by media. In general, the rule spells out guidelines designed [...]

City of Nashville declines records request that could help show judges’ hours at courthouse

The city of Nashville declined part of a recent public records request by The Tennesssean that would have shown the time of day Davidson County judges used their access cards to enter or exit a courthouse or its parking garage. The request was part of a larger one by the media company for access card data that the newspaper used to analyze how many days judges showed up to work compared with each other and a state average. The city released which days the judges used their access cards, but would not release the times of day when the access cards were swiped. "Under Tenn. Code Ann. 10-7-504(i)(1), the specific times [...]