Introduction

Australian court proceedings were televised for the first time on 20 February 1981, after Northern Territory Magistrate Denis Barritt, the Coroner in the First Coronial Inquiry into the Death of Azaria Chamberlain, had invited television cameras to record and broadcast live his findings in order to counter ‘the unfounded rumours that had circulated in relation to the inquest’. The magistrate's initiative and motivation were to set the pattern for most subsequent televising of Australian courts.

In the subsequent twenty-six years, courts in all Australian jurisdictions have admitted television cameras into their courtrooms. Footage which is currently permitted to be recorded ranges from file footage of judges on the bench, ceremonial and special sittings, and mute overlay footage, to sound and vision recordings of segments or even entire proceedings. Such footage has been used in live and delayed broadcasts, in documentaries, news and current affairs programmes, by free to air and pay-TV networks. It has also been streamed on the Internet. However, while a number of Australian courts – in particular the Federal Court of Australia and the Supreme Court of Victoria – admit cameras on a regular, albeit ad hoc basis, most Australian courts admit television cameras very rarely and usually only to permit the recording of file and overlay footage or ceremonial sittings. Western Australia remains the only Australian jurisdiction to have enacted specific guidelines for the televising of court proceedings.