Legal Standings of Journalist Reports - Assignment Example

? COURT REPORT By Court Report Case The court at Sunderland Youth Court on Monday morning had a dramatic time hearing the case of young-love-gone-sour. The morning of Monday saw the court preside over one of the most bizarre cases in Sunderland for the past decade. A school boy aged 14 years was charged in the court for murdering his 14 year old girlfriend. The inopportune incident was reported to have occurred on December 4 2013. Both teenagers were students studying for their GCSE examinations in a Withington Academy. While presenting the case, the prosecution reiterated that the girl had been found murdered in a field near Seaburn Metro Station over the weekend. She had five stubs in the stomach and medical reports presented in the court showed that she died from shock and internal bleeding. Before the body was discovered, the 14 year old girl had gone missing since Friday when she failed to return from school. A dog walker discovered the body of the girl lifeless in the field the following morning as police was already conducting a search. According to witnesses, the accused boy had squabbles with the dead girlfriend days before the incident. Detectives are still awaiting the test results of DNA samples collected from a knife used in the murder. The defendant’s lawyer, Doug Richardson asked the court to bail him out, citing the defendant had no previous criminal records. The court denied request for the bail given the weight of a murder charge. The defendant remains in police custody awaiting the next court hearing as the victim awaits burial next month. Commentary Whereas journalists have the responsibility to provide the community with accurate information of the happenings going on around them, there are legal responsibilities they have to consider when reporting events (Banks 2012, 02). Court proceedings are sensitive. While reporting the murder case involving the teenager, Paul Ross, the law requires that the name of the defendant be withheld. Whereas there is never any problem mentioning the name of the victim unless in a sexual assault or rape case, I chose to withhold the name of Monica Smith to protect identity of the accused. Additionally, the report does not detail the names of the parents of the accused and the victim for the same reason of protection of identity. This is particularly imperative given the fact that a defendant remains innocent until proved guilty in a legal procedure. In addition, the report fails to mention remarks reported in the court as having transpired before and after the incident. Before the murder, the defendant is reported to have states, “If I can’t have her, no one can.” Additionally, Ross is recorded to have broken down and confessed killing his girlfriend during police interrogation. He said, “I didn’t mean to kill her, just frighten her with the knife.” This report dodges these comments primarily to prevent a scenario that may show prejudice and bias. The journalist report fails to mention these statements as that would seem as though the journalist already has a formed opinion that Ross is guilty. It leaves the legal responsibility of determining innocence or guilt to the judiciary. Second Court Case The Newcastle Magistrates Court on Monday bailed out a revered Newcastle barrister after an awry “blind date” led to a lawsuit. The 33-year-old resident was charged with attempted rape of 19 year old Sunderland University Law student. The two were strangers to each other until Friday night when they met at a popular nightclub in town. The young woman claimed that they did not know each other until that evening when the defendant bought her drinks and asked her out to smoke cigarette. She says it was at that moment that the defendant tries raping her, raised an alarm and escaped before calling the police. In his defense, the 33-year old Newcastle resident reiterated that they had mutual consent to spend the night in a hotel room next to the nightclub. He said he simply tried to kiss her, but the mistress raised alarm citing sexual assault. The married man of three children said his marriage was going through severe problems, and this led him to the act that he regretted. As he applied for a bailing, the defendant’s solicitor, John London appealed that he be released on bail given his good character. The solicitor argued that the defendant had an outstanding reputation in the society and character-wise and deserved to be set free on a cash bail. The court released him on bail, but imposed an 8pm to 8am curfew upon him until another hearing next Monday at Newcastle Crown Courts. Commentary Like in the previous case, there are legal responsibilities journalists have to consider when reporting events. Court proceedings are sensitive. Considering the nature of the case; sexual assault case, the scenarios surrounding the case are discomfiting and embarrassing. This calls for the need to uphold a great sense of confidentiality and privacy in reporting the case (Ustundag 2013, 30). Both the defendant and the victim in this particular court proceeding have the right to be protected from undue publicity. For this reason, it is necessary to conceal the identity of Peter Michaels and Ms Jill Parsons. Including the ages of the two awakens the readers’ imagination and allows them to get a picture of the situation as it was in the courtroom and the scene of alleged crime. Legally, it is wrong to expose identity of the family of one suspected for committing crime (Myerson 2013, 32). This is the reason why the names of the family members of Michaels are missing in the media report. The law provides that journalists conceal the names of loved ones of the defendant to protect them from public humiliation, intimidation and embarrassment. Respect and safety of his wife Jemima and their children Sam, eight, and Lorna, two are, therefore, protected. Further, the report does not mention that Michaels is a respected barrister who defends criminal cases at Newcastle and Durham Crown Courts to protect his image. However, facts mentioned in the police interviews about his family problems are mentioned discriminately to allow the readers get the true picture of the case. It prevents one from demonizing the defendant, an occurrence that can potentially cause public unrest of University of Sunderland students if the court might find Michaels innocent and acquaint him. Bibliography MYERSON, J. M. (2013). Legal Standings of Journalist Reports. Boca Raton [u.a.], Auerbach Publ./Taylor & Francis. BANKS, J. (2012). Journalism and the Law of Privacy applied. Hoboken, NJ, Wiley. USTUNDAG, A. (2013). The value of Responsible Reporting benefits vs. costs. London, Springer. http://allaboutinformation.ca/2008/03/18/case-report-oca-sets-aside-contempt-order-issued-against-journalist/ Read More