The “ComEd Four” trial opened Tuesday morning with a battle over whether secret federal recordings would be released to the news media while the trial is in progress, but U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber ruled news outlets have the “right of access” and sided with them.

Patrick Cotter, lawyer for defendant Michael McClain, a longtime confidant of former House Speaker Michael Madigan, argued releasing the recordings, such as wire taps, could result in jurors flipping through radio or TV channels and hearing selected snippets that newsrooms would present “in the most entertaining form as possible.”

“To be blunt,” Cotter said, “the only issue here is one of ratings.”

Leinenweber had ruled in favor of Cotter’s argument last week that the recordings should not be released during the trial. The judge said then that transcripts would be available as soon as they are entered into evidence.

“Absolutely nothing has changed,” Cotter argued.

But news groups intervened Tuesday, including the Chicago Tribune, arguing the public should not be “deprived” of hearing recordings that could involve a variety of folks, including Madigan, the longest-serving legislative leader in American history.

“The issue is not a matter of ratings,” argued Brian Saucier, the attorney for the news media, but rather a “question of good journalism.”

Saucier, citing a case involving former President Richard Nixon, who tried to block release of his White House recordings, also maintained a “cold transcript doesn’t convey” the information on the recordings as well as the actual audio itself.

Cotter countered that a judge has “discretion” to allow or disallow release of the recordings during the trial.

But Leinenweber noted that previous judicial decisions are “one-sided” in favor of immediate access to the recordings when they are presented in court and granted immediate access to the news outlets.