By Tony Mauro

A coalition of news media and public interest organizations is calling on the U.S. Supreme Court to break from tradition and allow broadcast coverage of the upcoming arguments in the landmark same-sex marriage cases.

“The country, if not the whole world, is watching to see what will happen. And yet they cannot truly be watching, because live audio-visual coverage of Supreme Court proceedings is still barred,” the Coalition for Court Transparency said in a letter addressed to Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. Thursday. “And while the cases affect millions of people’s everyday lives, only those present in the courtroom that day will get to see and hear the oral arguments as they happen.”

The coalition includes the American Society of Newspaper Editors, the National Association of Broadcasters, the National Press Photographers Association and the Radio Television Digital News Association, as well as public interest groups Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, the Alliance for Justice, Constitutional Accountability Center and openthegovernment.org….