Mobile Internet technology was used alongside stenography in the Osnabruck court-martial so that a live transcript of legal proceedings could be broadcast on television for the first time.

Sky News and Sky News Active broadcast instantaneous, verbatim transcripts of the prosecution and defence closing statements, the Judge Advocate's remarks and the verdicts in the case, which saw British soldiers convicted of mistreating Iraqi prisoners.


The proceedings were recorded by a stenographer in the court at Osnabruck in Germany and relayed over the Internet via a 3G data card to Sky News headquarters in London.


WordWave International, the court reporting and media access company, collaborated with Sky on the broadcast. It provides real-time courtroom transcriptions and remote technologies, enabling proceedings to be sent to the computers of the judge and lawyers in court as well as to those not present. WordWave's transcript management software also enables lawyers to annotate and highlight the text to assist in their preparation for the following day.


Jayne Perry, the company's deputy managing director, said: 'We already had a captioning service for the deaf and hard of hearing. This project combined the two aspects of our expertise, building on our normal courtroom service, to give the public access.'