15 - Justice(s)
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Claire Sécail
From the law of December 6, 1954 to the 2005 Linden report: towards a new presence of cameras in the courts?
Le Temps des médias n°15, automne 2010, p. 269-284.
The law of December 6th 1954 banning radio and television broadcast as well as photography of court debates, aimed at restoring the authority of the legal institution and at raising the moral standards of the French society. However, the chaste veil once agreed upon by the media soon turned into a barrier, as television and its need for images gained an incontrovertible status in the public space. How would the need for transparency of a democracy accommodate itself of the dignity of justice? The law became more flexible in the 1980s – without, however, any collective consultation. A report of the Linden Committee, still in abeyance, attempted in 2005 to clarify the institutional and cultural stakes of a possible return of cameras into the French courts.