NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has clarified that its July 24 interim order prohibiting news organisations from sharing or uploading audio and video clips of court hearings does not bar them from reporting on judicial proceedings, but that they cannot use such recordings as part of their reportage.A bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant said the restriction is confined to the use of audio and video recordings of judicial proceedings in news reports and should not be interpreted as a blanket ban on reportage by media organisations. Such outlets may, therefore, continue to report on the proceedings and inform the general public of legal developments and judicial pronouncements.“It appears, however, that some confusion persists in respect of paragraph 11 of the earlier order, which this court deems necessary to clarify. The said paragraph makes it clear that the order is not to be construed as imposing a blanket prohibition on the reporting of court proceedings by recognised news outlets,” the bench said in an order on July 31, PTI reported.However, the news organisations will have to follow the restrictions set out in paragraph 10 of the earlier order.“In sum, while news outlets may continue to report on the court proceedings, they shall nonetheless remain bound by the restrictions set out in paragraph 10,” the bench added.The clarification came after Supreme Court noted that “some confusion persists” over the interim order, which barred posting and uploading of audio-video recordings of judicial proceedings on social media and other digital platforms without prior permission of the court administration.
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“As an interim measure, it is directed that there shall be no extraction, modification, dissemination, monetisation, posting, reposting and uploading of audio-video recordings of judicial proceedings on social media or other digital platforms without prior permission of the secretary general of this court or the registrar general of the jurisdictional high courts,” the bench had stated in that order.The Supreme Court had also issued notices to the Centre and others, including some social media platforms, seeking their responses on the plea filed by a journalist.Senior advocate Vikas Singh, appearing for the petitioner, had described the issue raised in the petition as “very important.”