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The eNCA (DStv 403) will try to bring South African viewers live court coverage of the Oscar Pistorius murder trial which has gripped not only South Africa but also a worldwide audience since the sensational news broke this past Thursday that he shot and killed his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in his home in Silver Woods Estate.
Oscar Pistorius is set to appear in court again tomorrow, Tuesday, with broadcasters and media who were not allowed to show any footage or do any live broadcast of the actual court proceedings of the bail application on Friday.
On Friday when Oscar Pistorius first appeared in court for a bail hearing after a charge of murder of killing Reeva Steenkamp, the eNCA's legal affairs reporter Karyn Maughan made a request for the eNCA (and by implication all media) to cover the court proceedings live and directly.
The SABC which unlike the eNCA doesn't have a 24-hour news channel but could possibly stream the court trial proceedings live online on the SABC News website, requested the court that if it wasn't possible to broadcast live, that the public broadcaster wanted to record before and after the proceedings.
It's unlikely that Tuesday's bail application hearing will be shown live on South African television, but media and news platforms such as the eNCA are going to try to give live coverage of the eventual court case.
The eNCA tells me that the 24-hour news channel will make a submission to cover the Oscar Pistorius trial and judgement. "However given the fluid nature of the bail proceedings we'll abide by the magistrate's ruling on this matter. He acted in the interest of justice and we respect that," says Patrick Conroy, the group head of news at the eNCA.
There have been great strides in recent years in getting the courts to acknowledge the importance of electronic media. I'm confident this will continue. We are also mindful that media applications to broadcast court proceedings can lead to delays which we would want to avoid as much as possible," says Patrick Conroy.
"Television coverage of our courts must assist in the judicial process being seen to be fair and effective. However on occasion we will have to take a step back when attempts to cover proceedings could lead to delays or complications in the judicial process."
