Would any editor hold the front page or indeed even a tiny corner of page 22 for the news that a man was fined £1,000 for failing to pay his TV licence?
Well, maybe they would if they knew about it, but newspapers no longer have enough reporters to cover minor court cases and there seems to be no system in place to provide them with the information.
But wouldn’t you would be interested in stories like this if the offender was your neighbour, or your uncle? And if you were thinking of not paying the licence wouldn’t you be stunned and deterred by the size of the fine?
Editors know readers are interested, but this is not the point. The resources aren’t there, and that’s that.
And yet there are good reasons why court stories should continue to be published – reasons to do with justice, public order and public relations.
Old-style weekly newspaper editors used to justify their extensive coverage of magistrates courts by maintaining that the shame of public exposure deterred would-be criminals.
In their view publicising court decisions was an essential part of the justice system – people needed to know the end result of criminal investigations.
And even now, when police forces are being pushed to explain why their budgets are so high, there is a clear public relations incentive to let people know the outcome of their work.
So hats off to West Midlands Police for finding at least a temporary solution. Five police press officers attended Birmingham Magistrates Court on Tuesday and posted the results on Twitter.
The stories they tweeted ranged from an armed robber who had breached his bail conditions to people stealing mobile phones and bikes. The exercise saw followers of @WMPolice increase by more than 300 ‘tweeters’.
This is not a sustainable long term answer to the media’s inability to ensure that justice is seen to be done.
But it raises an important point. There ought to be a way of getting court results into the media cheaply and efficiently. And is there any reason why Ken Clarke’s Ministry of Justice couldn’t come up with an answer?
A simple court results information service could do wonders for the public’s perception of what the police actually achieve. By naming the guilty it would help deter others from offending. And it would be of great interest to readers and viewers.
