There are a number of ethical issues that can arise when court reporting, particularly in cases involving domestic violence, coercive control, or sexual assault, where journalists must also be careful to avoid potential jigsaw identification.
There are numerous considerations for the conscientious court reporter with nearly every clause of the union's Code of Conduct coming into play at some point: freedom of expression, accuracy, fairness, privacy, resisting threats, and avoiding discrimination.
The next NUJ Ethics Council webinar, to be chaired by Professor Chris Frost on 16 April, will explore these areas in detail.
Fran Yeoman, a journalism professor at Liverpool John Moores University, will discuss her research looking at the impact of court reporting on the families of prisoners. Phil Coleman, a regional newspaper journalist for almost 40 years, will cover the difficulties of trying to highlight the damage of coercive control in a domestic relationship when the case includes a sexual assault charge. He will also cover the risk of jigsaw identification when others, in his case the local police force, report on different elements within a trial.
