Edinburgh - In an unprecedented British legal plea, some of the world's biggest media companies urged a Scottish court yesterday to allow them to televise the forthcoming Lockerbie airliner bombing trial.
Unlike the US, where images of the O. J. Simpson murder trial gripped millions of viewers worldwide, Britain has never allowed live courtroom coverage for fear of influencing the trial's outcome.
The publicly funded BBC, pay TV operator British Sky Broadcasting, global news and information company Reuters, US cable giant CNN, and US networks ABC and CBS were among those asking to televise the trial, due to start in early May.