CNN reel in Shipman

US media giant CNN has asked for unprecedented camera access to the Shipman inquiry, leading lawyers to back the idea of cameras in court.CNN lodged the application with Dame Janet Smith - the High Court judge who will chair the inquiry - last week, and a hearing has been scheduled for 11 October.Geoffrey Robertson QC and Finers Stephens Innocent partner Mark Stephens are acting for CNN.CNN senior vice-president Tony Maddox said: 'CNN believes there is a genuine matter of public interest at stake which would best be served by allowing cameras into the proceedings, to shed light on how the standard protection systems failed on this occasion, and to ensure that such a situation can never be allowed to recur, here or elsewhere.'Russell Wallman, director of the Law Society's policy development unit, said the Society considered filming to be fine in principle except in jury cases, and other hearings where there are lay witnesses.In these cases, cameras should be allowed where experts and lawyers are making submissions, but not when relatives are giving evidence, he said.'Justice should be as open as possible, but should not be used where it would cause increased distress for relatives,' he added.

Bar Council chairman Roy Amlot said that provided witnesses are dealt with sensitively, television can have a role in legal proceedings.

Jeremy Fleming