The Press: Open Sunlight

In the middle of a Cleveland vice trial, the lawyer for three defendants accused of pandering asked the judge to put newsmen and spectators out of the courtroom to ensure privacy. Said Cleveland Common Pleas Judge Parker Fulton: "We don't want to get into, the fix they did in the Jelke case. In that case, the judge on his own motion sent spectators out. I wouldn't do that." Instead of ordering newsmen out, Judge Fulton asked the defendants first to formally waive their constitutional right to a public trial. Only then did the judge order press and spectators out of the court. But the Cleveland Plain Dealer and News and Scripps-Howard Press appealed the ban anyway. Last week an Ohio Court of Appeals ruled that the press had a right in the courtroom. Said the Court of Appeals: "A defendant has no right ... to a private trial . . . Crime and corruption grow and thrive in darkness and secrecy. Justice thrives in the open sunlight of the day."