Prejudice leads to contempt, contempt leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering! Ahem...sorry.
So yeah, we learnt some more about prejudice and what you can report and when. A key aspect of this was learning when a court case becomes active. For the record, this is:
When the police make an arrest
Issue a warrant
Magistrates issue a summons
When a person is charged
As a journalist, this greatly restricts what we can and cannot report. Before a person is arrested, there isn't much in the way of restriction for a Journo. That's because there isn't a person that can be prejudged and no courts to be held in contempt of. Once a person is arrested however, there are a whole bunch of restrictions that slam into place. This is to ensure that a person gets a fair trial (and to prevent you from getting chucked into jail for contempt!) Once a trial has commenced, the only things a Journo can report on are:
The names of the defendant, their age, address and occupation
What they're charged with or a close summary
Name of the court and the magistrates name
Name of solicitors/barristers present
Date and place court is adjourned to
Bail arrangements
The legal aid that's been granted
It's also important to remember that isn't isn't just the Crown Prosecution Service that can prosecute people. While they may do the bulk, organisations like the RSPCA, Health and Safety Executive etc can also prosecute and there are also some private prosecutions.
Perhaps the most important aspect of court reporting is to remember that it has to be fast, accurate and fair. You can't keep a juicy days court reporting locked up for a slow news day in a weeks time. By that time it's out of date and no good. Plus, it may well land you in some trouble!
