Transcripts put witnesses, parties, counsel and judges on tenterhooks, forcing everyone to weigh and balance every word they utter. All must proceed honestly and in conformity with the rules and safeguards of the Common Law and statute. Poorly-judged cases can be appealed, dishonest counsel disbarred and perjurers called to account. Newspapers and TV stations can report exactly what was said. For maximum transparency, transcripts generated by speech recognition software along with video recordings ought to be published on the Internet.
This article is an extract from the book ‘Principles of Good Government’ by Matthew Bransgrove
