After questionable behavior was exhibited by photojournalists at the Bruno Richard Hauptmann trial in 1935, many states adopted a recommendation of the American Bar Association (Canon 35) and totally banned film and electronic coverage of courtroom proceedings. The ban of media became almost complete in this country after the Supreme Court overturned the guilty verdict of Billie Sol Estes in Texas in 1965 because of television coverage of this trial. However, as a result of intensive media lobbying, states such as Washington, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and Wisconsin now have some type of policy permitting media access to the courtroom. The guidelines released by the Wisconsin Supreme Court in March 1978 to govern a one-year experimental period empowered the media in each district to designate a media coordinator to work with the judges, established a committee to monitor and assess the experiment, rigidly restricted the amount of video equipment allowed in the courtroom, and authorized the presiding judge to decide the rules for media behavior in the courtroom. A possible change in the earlier decision of the American Bar Association is indicated by the cautious testing of media coverage in other states. (MAI)