The Lower House voted unanimously Tuesday on a bill to lift the ban on photographing and televising people giving sworn testimony before the Diet.All political parties in the chamber supported the bill, which would revise the Diet Testimony Law, during a plenary session. The bill was immediately sent to the Upper House, where it is expected to be enacted during the current Diet session, which ends Friday.The Diet Testimony Law was amended in 1988 to ban the photographing or filming for TV broadcasts of sworn witnesses, ostensibly to protect the privacy of such witnesses, with the exception of public servants.The bill cleared the Lower House during the regular Diet session last year but has been carried over to successive legislative sessions due to a reluctance over the revision by Upper House members of the Liberal Democratic Party.
