Journalists don’t agree on everything – even most things – but they’re fairly consistent when it comes to matters of free speech and public access to information.

It’s been two weeks since some of my colleagues and I attended what was expected to be a forum on whether 22nd Judicial Circuit in McHenry County should consider a pilot program authorized and encouraged by Illinois Supreme Court Chief Justice Thomas Kilbride to allow cameras in Illinois courtrooms.

The journalists in the room obviously were in favor of the program. The judges and attorneys who spoke reacted as though we were proposing reality game shows where victims, witnesses, defendants and lawyers were tortured for our amusement.