ABSTRACT
Key rules and professional standards when court reporting in 16 bullet points:
2˜ Attribution, facts not comment, avoid adjectives and adverbs unless attributed and obtain full contacts – first and last names, age, living, address, telephone, mobile and email
2˜ Respectfully dressed and respectfully behaved 2˜ Information preparation, check your technology and
reconnaissance 2˜ Availability of agreed prosecution opening, skeleton argu-
ments, CPS-media protocol, reporting from crime locations, reconstructions and court visits to the scenes of crime
2˜ Reporting restrictions – children, sex offence complainants, vulnerable witnesses, reporting postponement orders etc: always check
2˜ Names of protagonists, their titles and proper terminology – background briefing on legal system and how it works
2˜ Understanding the trial/case structure and narrative 2˜ Ban on cameras on precincts, permission only to use
sound recording, caution over tweeting – allowed but can be banned, keep two notes going
2˜ Accuracy paramount, keep to vocabulary used in court, establish intro and angle and avoid over-complicating the plot
2˜ Fairness paramount in every report – always include something on each side, no opinions or comment, only assert facts not in dispute, attribute everything else
2˜ Never live broadcast/report without preparing script and notes and working off these
2˜ No reporting of anything in the absence of the jury 2˜ Interviews with judges, counsel, jurors not allowed –
witnesses, police officers and instructing solicitors/crown prosecutors possible – usually outside the court
2˜ Extreme caution over interviews with anonymous witnesses subject to reporting restrictions
2˜ Press conferences where people are interviewed collectively (even impromptu on the pavement outside the court building) and all media have access carry qualified privilege for libel subject to explanation or contradiction – single one-to-one interviews do not
2˜ Keep your notes, files and papers
A downloadable sound file of bullet point professional tips and rules for court reporting. 2.0 podcast downloadable https://soundcloud.com/ comparativemedialaw/chapter2bulletpooints-uk-media
Your mind needs to concentrate on the basics of journalism: who, what, why, where, when and how. Always attribute; facts not comments from you as the reporter; park your politics and personal prejudices at home; fairness and accuracy are your priority; proper spellings; first and last names of participants in your story, the proper pronunciation of their names; their age (date of birth means you can calibrate their age in later reports); what they do for a living; where they live – including specific house/flat number; work and out-of-work contact numbers – landlines and mobile; email addresses.
