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79 Iowa L. Rev. 175 (1993-1994)
Injustice Telecast: The Illegal Use of Closed-Circuit Television Arraignments and Bail Bond Hearings in Federal Court

handle is hein.journals/ilr79 and id is 189 raw text is: Injustice Telecast: The Illegal Use of Closed-Circuit Television Arraignments and Bail Bond Hearings in Federal Court Ronnie Thaxton* Media technology is inseparable from American society.' Through the use of television, videotapes, and laser discs, we depend increasingly on media technology to interact fully with other members of society. From the Home Shopping Network2 to the circulation of college correspondence courses via television and videotape,3 media technology permeates almost every part of our existence. With the growth and technological advances of audiovisual equipment, media technology inevitably has become an impor- tant part of America's judicial system.4 Early uses of media technology *Law Student, University of Iowa. This note is dedicated to the memory of James J. Thaxton. 1. Media technology, specifically audiovisual equipment, has made remarkable techno- logical advances within the past 20 years. Starting with television, audiovisual equipment has moved from being an extravagant luxury to practically a bare necessity. As of 1987, in the average American household, the television was on more than seven hours a day. Ray Surette, Media, Crime and Criminal Justice: Images and Realities 2 (1992). Over the past decade, television viewers have become intricately involved with television. For example, in 1991, over 12 million television viewers tuned into the Jukebox Network, a pay-per-view music video service that enables viewers to request music videos telephonically on their cable television channel. Peter Ainslie, On the Jukebox Network, You Make the Call, Rolling Stone, May 2, 1991, at 48, 63. 2. The Home Shopping Network utilizes one of the most advanced call receiving systems in the world. Employing more than 2,000 telephone agents, Home Shopping Network is one of the busiest and largest call centers in the country. The network receives approximately 190,000 calls each day, taking orders for everything from jewelry to autographed baseball hats. Tom Mikol, Home Shopping Network: The Technology Channel, Telemarketing, Feb. 1992, at 60, 60. 3. Over 1,400 colleges in the United States offer credit for telecourses, which are videotaped lectures and programs accompanied by a textbook or other materials. Nancy Henderson, Informal Routes to a Formal Degree, Changing Times, Jan. 1989, at 77, 79. 4. Historically, the media has had nonexistent or extremely limited access to the courtroom. Judges feared that witnesses and jurors would alter the way they performed their responsibilities to meet the needs of the media. However, the first trial to receive television coverage occurred in 1953 in Oklahoma City. Surette, supra note 1, at 219 n.4. The first Supreme Court case dealing with the issue of television trial coverage was Estes v. Texas, 381 U.S. 532 (1965). Finding that the equipment that television coverage necessitates was too obtrusive for the courtroom atmosphere, the Estes Court excluded television from the courtroom due to its inherent denial of due process. Id. at 538. However, after 16 years of debate and the development of less obtrusive television equipment, the Court allowed television coverage. In 1981, the Supreme Court rejected the earlier opinion that television coverage violated a defendant's right to due process. Chandler v. Florida, 449 U.S. 560 (1981). The Chandler decision represents a remarkable shift in the attitude of the judicial system toward televising trials. Surette, supra note 1, at 201. 175

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