“It’s the Best Job on the Paper” – The Courts Beat During the Journalism Crisis

Abstract

Local journalism in the UK has been described as being in 'crisis'. Local newspapers have experienced years of declining circulations and staff cuts, leading to questions about how effectively those institutions can continue to perform normative functions of journalism. One of those is to report on the courts. Through analysis of 22 semistructured interviews with local newspaper reporters who cover the courts beat, agency court reporters who supply the local press, as well as broadcast journalists involved in both local and national court coverage, this paper helps to establish how the daily newswork of court journalists has developed amid a turbulent period in journalism, especially local journalism. The research finds that court reporting has been less affected than other news beats but faces a series of challenges related to financial cuts and other pressures. While the local press has become even more essential to the provision of court reporting, a central part of the news media's fourth estate role, those challenges affect the ability of court reporters to perform this function. This paper recommends that policymakers consider using a form of public funding to guarantee the future of court reporting at the local level.

Between harm and sensationalism: Court reporters negotiating objectivity when reflecting on ethical dilemmas in the Submarine Murder Trial

“…Murder trial reporting is a part of media coverage devoted to court hearings and criminal trials on the court beat (Magin & Maurer, 2019). It has been argued that court journalism is essential in democratic societies because citizens gain access to ongoing trials and learn about prevailing laws and sanctions (Johnston, 2018;Jones, 2021;Rodrick, 2014). Furthermore, the audience can draw on coverage when assessing whether the accused received a fair trial, which echoes the ideal of the media as the "fourth estate" (Jones, 2021).…”

“…Court reporting has been explored through various approaches, such as the analysis of sources in court news (Ericson et al, 1989), social media (Knight, 2017), news narratives (Johnston & Breit, 2010), and news selection (Jones, 2021;Machill et al, 2007). A minor part of this research field has focused specifically on press-related ethical issues in court reporting.…”