The Press: Freedom of the Lens

Press photographers, who have long been barred from most U.S. courtrooms,* are now clamoring to get inside. They argue that small cameras, faster film that needs no flashbulbs, and quieter shutters have outmoded the legal view that photography would distract witnesses and degrade the court. Last week the photographers showed some persuasive proof.

In an experiment, unprecedented in Pennsylvania, photographers were admitted to the Philadelphia court where Mrs. Gertrude Silver, Bartender Milton Schwartz and his wife Rosalie admitted their guilt in the abortion death of Mrs. Silver's 22-year-old daughter, Mrs. Doris Oestreicher. When sentences were pronounced (a suspended sentence...

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