Men in funny looking wigs.

In todays lecture we begin to look at court reporting. We begin with the three basic legal principles. These are:

1. Anyone accused is entitled to the presumption of innocence. They must be treated as innocent until found guilty in a criminal court for minor offences. The standard of proof is "beyond reasonable doubt" or as judges sometimes put it, they must be "sure" the person is guilty of the crime they are accused of before they can return a guilty verdict.

2. Justice must seen to be done. Trials must be held in public and according to known rules of evidence and procedure, unless there is strong reason not to, for example national security, protection of children or the protection of identity for rape victim trials. Judges must make a case each time they attempt to hear a case in private, such rulings are subject to challenge by the public. The Press being the "eyes and ears of the public".

3. Evidence based justice. The right to have evidence tested by a jury of peers, which is effectively used now. It is the fellow citizens right enshrined by the Magna Carta.

Moving on to criminal court, there are three main characters present at one time. These being:

The Jury: They decide on the innocence or guilty verdict depending on the evidence (and only the evidence, any breach of this is in danger of influencing the jury and causing contempt of court). They are supposed to be a statistically correct cross section of the population local to the crown court.

Barrister: This involves two parts of a team. One to represent the prosecution, who must prove the case to the Jury "beyond reasonable doubt" including using the arresting police officer/s. The other side of the team represents the defence who is there for the case of the accused who is then known as the defendent once the trial has started. In rare cases the accused will defend themselves and have a right to do so. Both representatives are part of the team, with solicitors having briefed them on the case.

The Judge: The judge is the most important character in any courtroom, they run the trial and are in charge of the case. The Judge also summarises the case but cannot "lead" the Jury in their decision otherwise the defendent can object and the trial can be dropped or even cancelled.

There are six crown courts in England known as circuits. Each has two presiding judges. The Old Bailey in London is the central criminal court, with Winchester being another major criminal court in the southern circuit. Crown Courts try serious crime, with three types of judges...

High Court - Mr Justice Smith

Circuit Court - Judge John Smith

City Crown Court- ie. London/Manchester Recorder: Mr John Smith.

Photograph taken by myself

Contempt of court is a strict liability offence - there is NO defence of saying "I didn't mean it".

The term contempt is used to explain how it prevents the court from acchieving justice, some criminals try to get outsiders to threaten or intimidate the Jury or the witness/s involved in the case. This can lead to a five year jail sentence at the least. An example of this is the Woodgate footballers case. The footballer was accused of launching a racial assult outside a club in Leeds in January 2000. However whilst being trialed for this, Colin Moyler, a crooked journalist for The Sunday Mirror, interviewed the family members of the victim from the assult whilst the trial was still running. This led to a massive contempt of court as the Jury had been prejudiced.

Prejudice: To pre-judge can lead to a guilty sentence before a trial has even begun. It means that the accused is judged before any evidence has been given. If you create prejudice you prevent the suspect from recieving a fair trial. The defendent can then accuse the prosecution of prejudice to get off or lighten the sentence.

Prejudice destroys Journalism.

As a journalist you CANNOT have...

-Pre-concieved ideas AND...

-You must stick to the facts

-Accuracy is key

-You must be fair, this means having a balanced, unbiased view

-You must make your report instantaneous, it must be published in the first available bulletin or edition.

The Statuate of qualified privellege is key for any journalist. If you do not abide by the above conditions of being fast, accurate and fair you can lose your privellege in court. Incorrect spelling or information can also lead to loss of privellege.

Privellege is not subject to the law, for example The Queen is not subject to the law, she is above

the law as she has gained the privellege to be.