Open justice: court reporting in the digital age

Need for a single point of contact for all media and public court inquiries

The Reporters’ Charter helpfully directs the media to the MOJ press office and the Judicial Press Office to deal with enquiries and issues on accessing court proceedings and information. There should be a single point of contact for all accessibility and open justice inquiries from the media and from the … Read more The Reporters’ Charter helpfully directs the media to the MOJ press office and the Judicial Press Office to deal with enquiries and issues on accessing court proceedings and information. There should be a single point of contact for all accessibility and open justice inquiries from the media and from the public. The Lord Chief Justice told us that, if a journalist encounters an issue accessing a court, he or she should “get in touch with their local court and ask why”. In reality, at present there is no formal official mechanism for the media or the public to raise accessibility enquiries or complaints in relation to the courts. The creation of regional communication and information officers within HMCTS could provide that point of contact for reporters and the public. The courts’ inspectorate, as we proposed in our report on court capacity, could have a specific remit to examine the operation of open justice. Show less