Pennsylvania Code › Title 201 - RULES OF JUDICIAL ADMINISTRATION › Chapter 19 - MISCELLANEOUS ADMINISTRATIVE PROVISIONS › BROADCASTING IN THE COURTROOM › Rule 1910 - Broadcasting, Recording, and Photography in the Courtroom

Current through Register Vol. 54, No. 28, July 13, 2024
(a)
General Statutory
				Prohibition.
It is unlawful and a criminal offense to use or operate a
				device to capture, record, transmit or broadcast a photograph, video, motion
				picture or audio of a proceeding or person within a judicial facility or in an
				area adjacent to or immediately surrounding a judicial facility without the
				approval of the court or presiding judicial officer or except as provided by
				rules of court.
See
18 Pa.C.S. §
										5103.1
				(relating to unlawful use of an audio or video device in court).
(b)
General Rule.
Unless
				otherwise provided by this rule or by the Supreme Court , judges shall prohibit
				broadcasting, televising, recording, or taking photographs in the courtroom and
				areas immediately adjacent thereto during sessions of court or recesses between
				sessions, except that a judge may authorize:
(1) the use of electronic or photographic
				means for the presentation of evidence, for the perpetuation of a record, or
				for other purposes of judicial administration;
(2) the broadcasting, televising, recording,
				or photographing of investitive, ceremonial, or naturalization
				proceedings;
(3) the photographic
				or electronic recording and reproduction of appropriate court proceedings under
				the following conditions:
(i) the means of
				recording will not distract participants or impair the dignity of the
				proceedings;
(ii) the parties have
				consented; and the consent to being depicted or recorded has been obtained from
				each witness appearing in the recording and reproductions;
(iii) the reproduction will not be exhibited
				until after the proceeding has been concluded and all direct appeals have been
				exhausted; and
(iv) the
				reproduction will be exhibited only for instructional purposes in educational
				institutions.
(4) the use
				of electronic broadcasting, televising, recording and taking photographs in the
				courtroom and areas immediately adjacent thereto during sessions of court or
				recesses between sessions of any trial court nonjury civil proceeding; however,
				for the purposes of this subdivision, "civil proceedings" shall not be
				construed to mean a support, custody, or divorce proceeding. subdivisions
				3(iii) and (iv) shall not apply to nonjury civil proceedings as heretofore
				defined. No witness or party who expresses any prior objection to the judge
				shall be photographed, nor shall the testimony of such witness or party be
				broadcast or telecast. Permission for the broadcasting, televising, recording,
				and photographing of any civil nonjury proceeding shall have first been
				expressly granted by the judge, and under such conditions as the judge may
				prescribe in accordance with the guidelines contained in this rule.
(5) A judicial district may adopt local rules
				or protocols regulating the use, operation, and activation of video
				surveillance systems with non-auditory features for purposes of security in any
				location and space that is controlled by the judicial district and used in the
				ordinary course of its business, including a courtroom. Any video surveillance
				recording made in a courtroom during a judicial proceeding may not be released
				to anyone outside the court without the express written approval of the
				president judge of the court. Use and dissemination of a recording made under
				this subdivision shall require the express written approval of the president
				judge.