Federal Criminal Procedure-Local District Court Rule Does Not Provide Judge Authority to Order “Narrowcast” of Motion Hearing-In re Sony BMG Music Entertainment, 564 F.3d 1 (1st Cir. 2009)

Since the 1930s, federal courts have expressed great reluctance toward allowing cameras into courtrooms for the purpose of recording or broadcasting proceedings.  Although the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure ban the use of cameras in criminal proceedings, there is no such rule of practice governing civil proceedings.  In In re Sony BMG Music Entertainment, the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, addressing a matter of first impression, considered whether a federal district judge had authority to permit “gavel-togavel” webcasting of a hearing in a civil case.  Forbidding enforcement of the district court’s order, the First Circuit determined that the district court abused its discretion by interpreting Local Rule 83.3 to include a “discretionary catchall” exception to the rule’s general prohibition against the simultaneous broadcast of court proceedings. . .