C-SPAN, CNN, ABC News, CBS News, and Univision are among a group of media organizations that have filed a motion urging greater media access to former President Donald Trump‘s historic upcoming trial for alleged election interference, which will be held in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
A total of 20 companies from the print, radio, digital, and TV worlds banded together to file this motion, seeking access to the trial scheduled for March 4, 2024.
The motion, filed on Thursday by this media coalition, was a request to record and broadcast the trial by the media, or by the Court publishing its own livestream on YouTube; or releasing video/audio at the end of each trial day.
The former president will spend a lot of time in the courtroom in the upcoming year as he will face 91 felony counts in four criminal cases spread across Washington D.C., New York, Florida, and Georgia.
So far, the Georgia-based case is the only one that will provide access to live proceedings from inside the courtroom. The proceedings will be live-streamed from the Fulton County Superior Court’s YouTube page. This feed will be able to be picked up and used by news organizations.
In addition to the motion filed on Thursday, this coalition of media organizations sent a letter today requesting that the Federal Judicial Conference grant an exception to its ban on cameras in federal criminal cases.
The Coalition is asking for this exception due to the uniquely high public interest in this case and the unprecedented nature of the trial of a former president. The Coalition advocates this exception as an opportunity for the American public to assess the process and results for themselves in real-time.
As of publication time, notable omissions from this coalition include NBC News and PBS.
The full list of the coalition has been provided below.
Advance Publications, Inc.,
American Broadcasting Companies, Inc. d/b/a ABC News,
The Associated Press,
Bloomberg L.P.,
Cable News Network, Inc.,
CBS Broadcasting, Inc., (letter only)
Dow Jones & Company, publisher of The Wall Street Journal,
The E.W. Scripps Company (operator of Court TV),
Los Angeles Times Communications LLC,
National Association of Broadcasters,
National Cable Satellite Corporation d/b/a C-SPAN,
National Press Photographers Association,
News/Media Alliance,
The New York Times Company,
POLITICO LLC,
Radio Television Digital News Association,
Society of Professional Journalists,
TEGNA Inc.,
Univision Networks & Studios, Inc.
The Washington Post