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Wisconsin judges are deleting records that show what happened in their court: A thread. 1/
After COVID-19 hit, Wisconsin courts quickly moved online. Judges started using Zoom to conduct court proceedings, with the public able to watch live via YouTube streams. Transparency advocates applauded this move as an appropriate balance between safety and accessibility. 2/
Emails among judges and court staff (obtained through a public records request) show them wrestling over what to do w/ those YouTube videos. When you stream live on YouTube, a recording of the stream stays up unless you manually delete it. That made some judges uncomfortable. 3/
Ultimately, guidance from Wisconsin's Director of State Courts said to delete the YouTube videos right after the live stream. So that's what they've been doing. For months. Transparency advocates have a problem with that. 4/
One reason is that this is a case of elected leaders (Wisconsin judges are elected) creating a record and then destroying it. WI's Open Records law says government recordings are records that should be kept. 5/
Another reason is one @fox6now experienced first-hand: Technology doesn't always work. If you can't access the live stream and the video gets deleted right after, the public has effectively been shut out of a court that's supposed to be open. 6/
A third reason is simply that it's easier and a good govt practice to keep the YouTube recordings up than it is to manually delete them. We've asked several judges and the Dir. of State Courts why there's a need to delete the videos. No one's really answered. 7/
In the emails that were part of a public records request, Grant Co. Judge VanDeHey expressed concern people could manipulate/distort/use the video to mock the proceedings. But open records atty Tom Kamenick and constitutional atty William Sulton say that's not really an issue. 8/
People can record video regardless of whether the courts delete their records; retaining the original streamed video allows you to see what really happened if there are questions about distortion. 9/
OK, but what about transcripts? Can't you just get those if you're shut out of a court proceeding? In a perfect world, sure. In real life...maybe. 10/
The transcript for the hearing we got shut out of is pretty short. Total cost is less than $15. But some transcripts cost more than $400, making the cost prohibitive to the public. And that's assuming a transcript exists. 11/
Some courts (like Kenosha Co Circuit Court) record their own audio and use that for transcripts. But they recently sent a letter to someone who requested it saying the audio was so poor, they could not transcribe the proceeding. 12/
Remember, they deleted the YouTube stream recording. So now there is no record of what happened during this court hearing that your tax dollars pay for that's supposed to be open to the public. 13/
In a letter to @fox6now, Dir. of State Courts said the YouTube videos can be deleted because they're not the "official record" (transparency advocates argue that doesn't necessarily give the right to delete). But now we're learning the "official record" doesn't always exist. 14/
Chances are you don't sit at home and scour the Internet for court videos...so who cares? These videos didn't exist before COVID hit and court started live streaming, right? 15/
Public records exist to allow you to see what your government is doing (or allow us to see it and report on it for you). When government creates a record and deliberately destroys it, we think you should know. 16/
And when technology issues (which are bound to happen!) mean the public is blocked from a hearing or the official court record is lost, and the only possible backup was destroyed, we think you should know about that, too. 17/
Dir. of State Courts pointed out that moving to YouTube streaming greatly increased access to Wisconsin courts. And he's right...when the technology works. But sometimes it doesn't and this decision means you then can't see how your elected leaders acted in a public forum. 18/
If you want more details about the hearing we were shut out of, or if you want to read the emails/responses/non-responses from judges, here's the full story. 19/ https://fox6now.com/2020/07/08/wisconsin-judges-are-deleting-videos-of-what-happens-in-their-courtrooms-whats-going-on-here/
And if you want to hear @bryanpolcyn and I talk more about open government and how that relates to this particular situation with the courts, here's today's episode of our podcast, Open Record. 20/ https://fox6now.com/2020/07/09/open-record-special-edition-delete-forever/
The reason we do stories and podcast episodes and Twitter threads about open records/open meetings issues is because you can't make decisions about your government if you don't know what they're doing. As always, please reach out if you have questions/suggestions/comments. 21/21
