There is a widespread perception that there has been a collapse in court reporting in England and Wales as local legacy media struggles to survive in times of falling revenues and shifting audiences. However, there is little empirical evidence with which to examine the issue. This research aims to fill this knowledge gap by carrying out the first week-long systematic coding of the activity of one England and Wales magistrates’ court coupled with a concurrent survey of local media coverage of the courts. While 240 cases were observed during the week-long study, only three stories appeared in the local press and only one case was attended by a journalist. Moreover, the research team identified a significant number of ‘newsworthy’ cases among the sample – all of which were missing from media coverage. Although small in scale, this research does indicate that, in an average week, the vast majority of cases heard at this level of the criminal justice system is largely invisible to the public, with virtually no independent oversight from journalism. This is at odds with the key principle of open justice. The article ends with some suggestions for regenerating the area by shifting from court reporting to a Justice Reporting model, with the ultimate aim of effectively filling the void in external scrutiny of day-to-day criminal justice.
The British Nutrition Foundation promotes itself as a source of impartial information, but as Phil Chamberlain reports, it does not always make its links with industry clear
Articles reporting research may be full length or brief reports. These should report original research findings within the journal's scope. Papers should generally be a maximum of 4000 words in length, excluding tables, references, and abstract and key points of the article, whilst it is recommended that the number of references should not exceed 30. Review PapersComprehensive, authoritative, reviews within the journal's scope. There are two types of review papers:-systematic review papers: respond to a specific research question, accrue from criterion-based selection of sources, include a quantitative synthesis and a statistical method (meta-analysis), and should adhere to PRISMA guidelines. Guidelines used for abstracting data and assessing data quality and validity should be noted in methods section. -narrative review papers: the research question may be broad, and the scope of this review is to discuss a specific topic and keep the readers up-to-date about it. This type of review does not necessarily include a methodological approach and its synthesis is usually qualitative. Narrative reviews should include in a developments section, with details regarding data sources used, keywords applied, time restrictions and study types selected. Developments should be based on actual review articles. All review papers should be generally less than 6000 words, excluding abstract, tables, figures and references. References should not exceed 50. Conclusion of the reviews should be specific and stem from the findings. Short ReportsBrief reports of data from original research. Short reports are shorter versions of original articles, may include one table or figure, should not exceed 1500 words, and it is recommended that the number of references should not exceed 15. Short reports are suitable for the presentation of research that extends previously published research, including the reporting of additional controls and confirmatory results in other settings, as well as negative results. Authors must clearly acknowledge any work upon which they are building, both published and unpublished.
Background The Tobacco Industry Interference (TII) Index evaluates the implementation of FCTC Article 5.3. The first edition of the Global TII Index was published in 2019, included 33 countries, and covered the years 2017-2018. A second edition, covering 2018-2019, is scheduled to be published in October 2020. This paper reports on findings of the Index for the UK, the changes observed between 2017 and 2020, and the resulting policy recommendations. Methods The UK Index was based on a questionnaire covering different forms of tobacco industry interference. Lower scores indicate better compliance with Article 5.3. In order to complete the questionnaire, an expert consultation was conducted with UK's leading tobacco control specialists. This was supplemented by a scoping review of academic literature, media websites, government websites, and the Tobacco Tactics resource. Results In the 2019 Index the UK has achieved the lowest score among 33 countries surveyed. Strengths of the UK system included the exclusion of TI from government bodies that set public health policy and from FCTC COP delegations; the obligation of the government to publish information on all meetings with TI; and guidelines stipulating that its diplomats must not engage on behalf of TI. Nevertheless, weaknesses were also identified; including only partial implementation of the above obligations, the absence of an effective lobbying register, and the ongoing involvement of parliamentary consultative bodies, individual politicians and political parties with TI and affiliated organisations. Discussion The change of government in the UK in 2019, the shifting policy framework resulting from Brexit, and the increasing use by the tobacco industry of third parties to access policymakers, bring new challenges to the maintenance of robust Article 5.3 compliance. The presentation will analyse how this has affected the change in the UK's performance between the 2019 and the 2020 Tobacco Industry Interference Index. Key messages The need to strengthen transparency regulations for policymakers. A need for continued monitoring against an agreed framework in the light of very fluid political developments.
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