Access to Military Dockets

The Reporters Committee spent more than a year investigating issues surrounding access to military court dockets and proceedings, discovering major inconsistencies in access among military branches and bases. The project was spurred by repeated complaints by reporters covering the military that they were missing important stories about criminal cases brought against America's soldiers and sailors leaving the public underserved and unaware.

Journalists, lawyers, military officers and experts on the military were interviewed for the project and the Reporters Committee commissioned a study by the Tully Center for Free Speech at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University to examine practices at one-fourth of the U.S. military bases around the world.

The three main components of this project are:

White Paper: Military Dockets

An examination of the current access hurdles faced by reporters without a comprehensive military docketing system also providing a historical perspective on access to military criminal proceedings and recommendations for institution of a military-wide docketing system.

Off Base: Fighting for Access to Military Court Dockets and Proceedings

A succinct guide discussing the issues covered in the White Paper as well as detailed discussion of the Tully Center survey, intended as a resource for reporters.

Study by Tully Center for Free Speech

The results and findings of the study project, as prepared by the Tully Center.