What: Attempted “Illegal camera panning”
Where: Keene District Court, 3 Washington Street, Keene, New Hampshire
When: Friday, Sept. 26, 2008. 7:45 a.m.
How: Videographer will attempt to man, and pan, his video camera during trial of Keene freedom activist. Camera movement is forbidden under
http://www.courts.state.nh.us/rules/dmcr/dmcr-1_4.htm
Judge Edward Burke has said he’ll begin enforcing the ban.
Why: There are two objectives…
1) Document Nick Ryder’s controversial refusal to pay traffic fine (something that can’t be done well without panning the camera)
2) Protest – and draw attention to – an unacceptable, actively enforced court rule that unnecessarily limits freedom of press
Who: Dave Ridley, 42, Manchester videographer
Open letter for Judge Edward Burke
Presiding Justice, Keene District Court:
Dear Judge Burke:
Your restraint and politeness in the handling of David Krouse’s civil disobedience case this spring…turned me into an unlikely fan. It was a reminder to liberty lovers that judges in New Hampshire tend to be less violent than those in other places.
However I’m concerned regarding your stated intent to begin enforcing a bizarre rule against video camera panning. In my fifteen years of service as a TV news videographer, I’ve never seen anything like it. To tell a videographer he can’t pan or tilt his camera…that’s like telling a writer she can’t hold a pen. It violates the spirit of a “speedy and *public* trial.” That’s dangerous.
Apparently this is a district court regulation, but it’s not acceptable and must be openly challenged. Unfortunately, I don’t have the skills, money or time to effectively use ‘the means the state has provided me for changing it’. So I’ll follow Thoreau’s example and undertake constructive disobedience.
Over the next few days, I will go through the usual process that a videographer undertakes to film in your chambers. I’ll seek clearance to record Nick Ryder’s speeding ticket hearing, currently scheduled for 8:30 a.m. September 26th. In the absence of emergencies or illness, I’ll attempt to enter the courtroom with my camera. I’ll try to follow any reasonable rules – and perhaps some unreasonable – that you may wish to impose. I’ll operate as unobtrusively as possible.
But I will not comply with the “pan ban,” or any rule that intolerably restricts a videographer’s ability to document this taxpayer-funded event.
If you forbid me from entering the courtroom with a camera, I’ll ignore the ban and repeatedly attempt peaceable entry. If allowed in, but ordered to cease panning, I’ll respectfully refuse to comply with the command. If ordered to leave the courtroom for any reason that seems unacceptable, I will politely decline. I’m ready to undergo arrest or detention, if that’s what it takes to bring attention to this First Amendment matter.
This is happening, not becuase of your decent treatment of Krouse, nor your allowance of cameras. I respect and appreciate those things; they were almost enough to stop me from bothering you with this. But your court’s unacceptable regulations on videographers, and your statement to Ryder indicating that you will begin enforcing them….makes this act of constructive disobedience imperitive.
You have various courses of action to pick from, but in the end…you will either allow me to aim and operate my camera in the courtroom or use force against a harmless citizen.
Yours,
Dave Ridley
RidleyReport.com
