Richard Jones, the Director of Journalism at the University of Salford has said that more protections and freedoms are needed for journalists within courts.
He believes that reform is needed so that reporters can take photos and make audio recordings to “prevent the decline of open justice.”
“Court reporting represents the best traditions of local journalism, scrutinising the work of the criminal justice system in depth in a style accessible to a broad readership,” he explained.
“The work of the court reporter is even more valuable in an era when the financial squeeze on journalism has had impacts elsewhere, as slashed newsdesk budgets make it harder for agencies and freelancers to sustain themselves on court copy alone.
“But I’m worried unless we make it easier for newspaper and other court reporters to do their jobs, the more routine coverage we still have of cases large and small might wither away.
“Without them, open justice would become virtually closed, and we would be left with one-sided accounts provided by occasional police press releases.”
The recommendations have been made in his new book, Reporting The Courts, where he explores the future of court reporting and highlights the acute financial pressures local news providers are facing.
He identified that outlets such as the Manchester Evening News and Liverpool Echo continue to publish an average of 7 court stories a day, most based on in-person reporting from the respective cities’ crown and magistrates’ courts.
He believes that all UK courts should provide a press room for journalists to prevent them having to work alongside defendants and lawyers; and improving access to remote video hearings for journalists and for courts to provide more consistent, regularly updated information to the media, including decisions made under the Single Justice Procedure.
The photography ban in courts in England and Wales dates from the Criminal Justice Act 1925 and Jones argues that this isn’t fit for purpose in 2024.
Since 2022 filming of some sentencing remarks has been filmed, which has been widely praised, because judges have been able to explain their decisions directly to the public.
“Politicians, judges, legal figures – and yes, editors too – often talk a good game about open justice. It’s time to take steps to help make sure our press benches don’t empty any further,” he added.
Reporting The Courts is out now.
