The Gazette 1995

GAZETTE

MAY/JUNE 1995

Reporting the Courts

to devote two or three pages to an exceptionally important case or judgment, RTE news is restricted to, | at the most, two and a half minutes for a television package and perhaps one and a half minutes for a radio package. That time is further reduced | on some bulletins: a story on the hourly 2FM bulletins would rarely run longer than 45 seconds, while a story on the radio News At One would normally last no more than one minute. At an average of three words a second, that's 180 words to report, perhaps, a judgment that may run to 90 pages - two words per page!

By Kieron Wood*

evidenced by the number of calls to RTE's switchboard - pushed the story into the top slot on the 9 o'clock news • (an almost unheard-of occurrence) and the following day it made the front page of every national newspaper. j But, as a rule, time is tight on news bulletins, so stories have to be cut back to the bare essentials. As a result, there is a certain selectivity of detail in what can be reported. In Í criminal trials, for example, the normal practice is to report the ; opening of the trial, the closing and the sentence. That means that the j prosecution case is fully reported whereas the defence case may not receive such complete treatment. In civic cases, often the plaintiff's case will be more fully covered than the respondent's. While the newspapers have a pooling arrangement which allows them to cover cases from beginning to end, RTE operates on its own with - as a rule - one correspondent (me!) covering all the courts, from the District Court to the Supreme Court. That can mean that cases are missed and it certainly means that coverage is more restricted than in the newspapers. So how are cases chosen for coverage? Well, some cases are known about well in advance, such as the Article 26 reference to the ! Supreme Court. Other cases - particularly criminal cases - are followed through from arrest to the court of trial (and possible the Court of Criminal Appeal), with the remand dates being noted in the news desk diary throughout, so I that an eye can be kept on the progress of the case. The Legal Diary is an invaluable mine i of material and is scanned avidly each morning, with well-known names being underlined as a possible source of stories. Occasionally solicitors or counsel will tip off journalists about forthcoming cases.

The recent broadcast on RTE news of pictures of the Supreme Court in session brought home to many people the gulf which separates the legal profession from the public. For most people, those pictures of five i Supreme Court judges listening to the opening of the Abortion Information Bill reference are the nearest they will ever get to the courts. While Article 34.1 of the Constitution specifies that "save in such special and limited cases as may be prescribed by law, (justice) shall be administered in public", it's a fact that the vast majority of people in Ireland have never been inside a courtroom. Their knowledge of court proceedings comes from watching Rumpole of the ! Bailey, American TV soaps, the OJ j Simpson trial and from what they see, hear and read in the Irish media. All the more reason, then, for ensuring that - in the absence of television cameras from all our courts - proceedings are reported accurately and in a form which is easy to understand. i It's all too easy for those involved in | the law - including court reporters - | to slip into such phrases as "reserved j judgment" , "interlocutory injunction", "unlawful carnal knowledge" or even "jurisdiction" and to expect the public to understand what they mean. Most members of the public don't even know the difference between a solicitor and a barrister, and | they wouldn't know Anton Piller from Phyllis Diller! ; As the national broadcasting station, j RTE has a special responsibility to I cover the courts. But its coverage I differs from that of the newspapers for several reasons. First of all, by the nature of radio and television, time is of the essence (another legal phrase!). Whereas the Irish Times may be able

Kieron

Wood

The most outstanding exception to these fairly inflexible guidelines came i two years ago with the television interview in the Kilkenny incest case. ; The woman at the centre of that case agreed to do an interview the day after her father was sentenced. The recorded interview ran for about half an hour. The television news chief sub-editor said he would take a three minute clip, if the content was i exceptional. The interview was so harrowing and the interviewee so j compelling that the piece ran for eight I and a half minutes as the second story on the 6.01 TV bulletin. The extraordinary public reaction - as