New research funding to study as-live courtroom footage

Cameras are being allowed into courtrooms in England and Wales in a set of legislative changes that mark a historic shift in the meaning of public involvement in the courtroom.

Led for Cardiff University by Dr Iñaki Garcia-Blanco, an existing research team will be expanded to bring academics and researchers from multiple universities together to address questions regarding the impact of as-live cameras.

The GW4 Accelerator grant will facilitate several streams of research and stake holder consultations including a proof of concept study and a series of public engagements.

Dr Garcia-Blanco said. “In March the government announced its decision to pilot filming in Crown Courts.

“As a result, our research community will bring together academics from the social sciences, arts, and humanities to study the production, meaning, and reaction to as-live courtroom footage, with a view to assessing the Ministry of Justice’s stated objectives of ‘transparent justice’.

“But our work will not stop there as the scale of this significant change is yet to be fully understood. In due course, we aim to continue our research with the help of new external funders.

“This is the beginning of a significant change in the way the media influences and portrays the criminal justice system and our research at the School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies will play a leading role in how that change is understood.”

Photo by tvol / CC BY