B.C. courtrooms will no longer be tweet-free zones, after a decision to allow limited use of electronic communication devices in the public gallery during trials.
But it won't be a tweet-for-all.
Only lawyers and accredited members of the media will be allowed to text during trials at the Supreme and provincial courts.
Members of the public will be allowed to do so only from the galleries of the B.C. Court of Appeal, because cases in that arena are on written record with no witnesses.
Chief Justice Robert Bauman of the B.C. Supreme Court said the new rules and subsequent embracing of social media will allow for greater public access to the legal system through media.
"It's permitting more instantaneous discussion of what's happening in the courtroom," said Bauman.
"It's allowing a whole new segment of the population, who may only get their news in this way, to again have access to what's going on in courtrooms."
The new policy makes B.C. another province, along with Alberta and Nova Scotia, to allow such devices in the courtroom.
But with the power to tweet comes responsibility, which is one of the reasons the public has not been given carte blanche to make use of the new policy, Bauman suggested.
He said journalists have a professional responsibility to not release information that could harm a trial or accidentally identify those given identity protection in exchange for their testimony.
Even still, he said there remains fear a protected witness could, through some kind of mistake, be identified.
"That risk already exists. We have to protect against it as best we can," he said.
Privacy of witnesses has been a serious concern in deciding what media tools will be allowed to help document proceedings, which has hindered television.
Though full-scale televising of trails is not allowed in B.C., sound recording devices are permitted in court for lawyers and journalists who have signed an undertaking and agreed to not broadcast the recording.
Bauman said the experience with sound recording devices has been a success, but that success, combined with new ability to text, does not necessarily mean the province is closer to televised trials.
A statement issued by the courts said the new rules reflect the importance of today's social media and their influence.
