A study of court reporting in the UK has concluded public funding should be considered to safeguard the ability of local newspapers to be the eyes and ears of the public.
After interviewing 22 journalists from across the UK about their court coverage, Richard Jones of the University of Huddersfield warned any reduction on the current provision would have a “huge impact on open justice”.
His paper, published in the academic journal Journalism Practice, concluded that some form of public subsidy for court reporting, whether under an expanded BBC-funded Local Democracy Reporter Service or another scheme, would be “welcome”.
Jones acknowledged that most journalists who regularly cover courts are from the biggest local news groups, which include Reach, Newsquest, Archant and JPI Media.
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By Richard Youle, Local Democracy Reporter Unison has made a demand to halt cuts to services in Carmarthenshire A TRADE union has called on councillors in Carmarthenshire not to approve a budget which cuts services. Mark Evans, of Unison, has claimed that the authority could borrow money or use reserves to cover any shortfall it faces in 2021-22. Mr Evans, Carmarthenshire Unison’s branch secretary, said he believed this would send a signal to central Government after years of austerity, which he said had eroded councils’ real-terms spending power. Independent body Audit Wales said in a guide to public finances that councils were required by law to have a balanced budget, but that the legislation did not define what balanced meant in practice.
With help from Trelech councillor Jean Lewis, the Local Democracy Reporter Service tracked her down. Emma Bolam was raised in Pen-y-bont, around eight miles north-west of Carmarthen, and went to Ysgol Gyfun Bro Myrddin in Carmarthen until 1989. She studied environmental biology at Oxford Brookes University and stayed in Oxford ever since. Her parents still live in Pen-y-bont – and her best friend from school, Lynne Edwards, happens to be the immunisation coordinator for Hywel Dda University Health Board, administering the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine. Emma works at the Jenner Institute, which develops vaccines and is based in Oxford University’s department of medicine. She is head of production at the institute’s clinical bio-manufacturing facility.