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The Supreme Court-adopted Rules Governing the Recording and Broadcasting of Court Proceedings in the Civil Courts of Dallas County (Misc. Docket No. 92-0067, signed March 11, 1992, adopted under TRCP 18c at the civil courts’ request): prior-day written media notice with binding-guidelines acknowledgment, objection hearings with written allow/deny/limit orders, prohibited-coverage classes (chambers, closed proceedings, jury selection, privileged conferences, jurors), the one-TV/one-still-camera equipment standard with a three-person crew cap, no-delay and pooling rules, the not-official-record rule, and judicial-order enforcement with access bars.
Texas > Dallas County > the civil-docket district courts, County Courts at Law, probate courts, and justice of the peace courts (per the rules' own scope clause)
SCOPE: adopted by the Supreme Court of Texas under TRCP 18c(a) at the request of the civil courts of Dallas County — the rules govern recording and broadcasting "in those district courts, county courts at law, probate courts, and justice of the peace courts of Dallas County whose dockets consist primarily of matters and cases which are not criminal"; the order takes effect for each court when recorded in its minutes under TRCP 3a(4). POLICY (Rule 1): to allow electronic media coverage of public civil proceedings "to facilitate the free flow of information to the public," construed "to provide the greatest access possible while at the same time maintaining the dignity, decorum and impartiality of the court proceeding." COVERAGE PERMITTED (Rule 3): only as permitted by TRCP 18c and these rules; investiture/ceremonial coverage (18c(c)) rests solely with the court; other coverage under 18c(a)-(b) "is permitted only after written notice filed with the district clerk or county clerk ... and served on the parties to the proceeding no later than the day prior to the scheduled proceeding" (as soon as practicable for shorter-notice settings), signed by an authorized media representative acknowledging the guidelines are binding; any party may then request a hearing on objections before the proceeding commences — objections "should not be conclusory but should state the specific and demonstrable injury alleged"; the hearing is set so as not to substantially delay proceedings; the court rules by written order allowing, denying, or limiting coverage (denials with findings), and retains discretion to allow, deny, limit, or terminate coverage "when it is in the interests of justice to protect the rights of the parties, witnesses, or the dignity of the court, or to assure the orderly conduct of the proceedings, or for any other reason considered necessary or appropriate." COVERAGE PROHIBITED (Rule 4): proceedings in chambers, proceedings closed to the public, and jury selection; "Conferences between an attorney and client, witness or aide, between attorneys, or between counsel and the court at the bench shall not be recorded or received by sound equipment"; "Filming, photographing or recording jurors or alternate jurors in the courtroom or in the jury deliberation room is prohibited"; juvenile and family courts may publish additional policies — the rules recognize "there may likely be no proper circumstance for allowing media coverage in delinquency cases." EQUIPMENT AND PERSONNEL (Rule 5): the court may require equipment demonstrations and specify placement; unless the court for good cause orders otherwise — "One television camera and one still camera, with a combined crew of no more than three persons, are allowed," with a discretionary unmanned second camera for entire/lengthy coverage; no distracting sound or light, visible signal lights, moving lights, or flash; existing courtroom sound and lighting used without unapproved modification, microphones unobtrusively placed; no equipment movement while in session, with everything in place before commencement. OPERATIONS (Rules 6-8): "No proceeding or session will be delayed or continued for the sole purpose of allowing media coverage unless allowed by the court"; multiple same-type agencies make pool arrangements with a designated coordinator or the court may deny that type entirely; "Films, videotapes, photographs or audio reproductions made in court proceedings shall not be considered as part of the official court record." ENFORCEMENT (Rule 9): the rules carry "the force and effect of a judicial order," enforceable by the court, with media violations sanctionable "including, without limitation, barring the particular media from access to future electronic media coverage of proceedings in that courtroom for a defined period of time."
Reviewer note: VISION-COMPLETED 2026-08-28: registered doc 2855’s scan defeated OCR (composition initially reconstructed from the 192nd’s citation), and registered doc 1202 — a cleaner registered copy of the same instrument — was rendered page-by-page and read, yielding the full verbatim rules composed here; the signature page shows "SIGNED AND ENTERED this 11th day of March, 1992" over the nine justices (Phillips, C.J.), fixing the effective date (previously recorded 1992-03-16 from the scan’s docket stamp); both registered custody shas in the registry ledger (docs 2855, 1202).
Tenth (10th) Court of Appeals — Standing Order No. 1, as registered in the statewide TOPICs local-rules registry (posted 01/01/2023). The operative requirements are quoted verbatim; the registered document is the controlling text.
Tenth (10th) Court of Appeals — Standing Order No. 2, as registered in the statewide TOPICs local-rules registry (posted 01/01/2023). The operative requirements are quoted verbatim; the registered document is the controlling text.