Week 5 - The Justice Gap

Mansfield and Zander clash over legal aid funding

Professor Michael Zander came to the University of Winchester to speak at the launch of the new Crime and Justice Centre, I transcribed his lecture notes here.  During his speech he commented on the matter of legal aid funding, backing that our legal aid system is better then any other country. During the interview for the Justice Gap with Michael Mansfield I threw him the question on what he thought about this comment and he responded against what Zander had to say.

This week I realised how important it is to re-address the people you speak to and share the article you have written about them rather then shy away in hope they won't see what you reported. Mansfield responded to Zander's comments therefore we needed to give Zander the right to reply. The argument here is that Mansfield believes the system is broken, but Zander supports that the legal system still works. However, Zander wanted to make it clear that he did not think the cuts were a good thing, so an additional line that directly addressed the fact he thought the cuts were terrible was included.

Click the headline links or view the full article here. This week marked an increase in traffic to the website, peaking close to 1000 unique views daily.

Victims to be allowed to address court before sentence

Also this week, I wrote an article on the new code which gives victims the right to read out their personal statements in court. To push my article on from the recycled press release reports I wanted to get my own quotes, I also looked to localise the story in order to use it on WINOL. I wanted to add human interest to this story by speaking with a victim that would want to comment on the new changes. However I was unsuccessful at short notice when trying to get hold of a case study as there are several issues surrounding confidentiality.

After contacting the local Victim Support Group I set up a video interview with Carolyn Martin who works at the Witness Services at Winchester Crown Court who are there to support and protect victims and witnesses. The interview went well, and it was good to build a contact from within the court and introduce myself and make the publication more known to them. A short clip of the interview was used as an OOVACT on WINOL, but as the bulletin was light on stories this week, the news editor asked for approx 35 seconds to beef out the bulletin a bit more. This interview worked well both nationally and locally and therefore it was published on both the Justice Gap website, and WINOL.

Cameras begin filming courts for first time

Furthermore, on Wednesday I was working on a text story regarding the plans for cameras to film inside the courts for the first time. When this was first brought to my attention I researched it, and saw other newspapers such as The Guardian reported the proposed filming would begin on the following Monday if the legislation is approved. After phoning the Court of Appeal to get the latest information, I was informed that it had been approved and it was going to begin the next day. Speaking with the Ministry of Justice press office I was sent the latest press release which was embargoed until 6pm that day. This was a highlight for me, working on an article before another publication had reported on it, and before the breaking news was due to go live.

Using social media we tweeted the article as it was published dead on 6pm, using the hash tag #camerasincourt. The Justice Gap reported on this landmark change moments before Sky News did, which I was extremely proud of. Full article here. 

Click the headline links to view each article.

Fatal Errors

All journalists will be aware of the fatal error system and the serious consequences that could follow if these errors are made. For example the paper could be sued for thousands of pounds or the individual could find themselves facing a court trial.

Every report must be fast, accurate and fair, and without fail avoid these errors:  

1. Malice 

We must never report with malice, this is targeting someone in order to damage them.

2. Dishonest presentation of sources - dishonesty generally 

We must never lie.

3. Causing Disrepute or disruption 

The above three would all have to be pre-meditated in order to fall into these errors.

4. Reckless inaccuracy 

For example spelling names and places wrong

5. Legal Problems - (without justification) 

You have justification if it is true and you can prove it

6. Regulatory problems - (without justification) 

For example, do not swear

The above three all boil down to inaccuracy, and this bad practise comes down to lazy reporting. 

Miscarriages of Justice talk by Professor Michael Zander

What is a miscarriage of justice?

Three types:

• The innocent person being convicted – “the criminal justice system doesn’t actually concern itself with innocence” – when you are put on trial you are trying to prove that you are not guilty – never innocent
• The guilty person who is convicted as a result of serious malpractice by the prosecution on faulty evidence.
• The guilty person who is acquitted

No such thing as magicking away this problem – "we will always have miscarriages of justice", 'The problem is unavoidable.'

If innocence were the test as to whether you would be acquitted very few people would be acquitted. Very few people are able to establish that they are innocent.

If we were to change the test at the Court of Appeal (Test of whether it was unsafe) and change it to (is the defendant innocent) no one would qualify as it’s hard to establish that you have evidence.

Why do they occur?

• Police wickedness – Guildford 4 Birmingham 6 – all cases where the police had behaved very badly, and the police fabricated evidence.
• Police incompetence - based on their habit of rounding up the usual suspects – pursue it relentlessly without listening to the defendant.
• Prosecution failure – failing to disclose evidence that could be helpful towards the defence – going at the case in a way that is misconceived
• Defence failures – more common – failing the suspect, not listening to them, too often guilty of not bothering – defence lawyers may not be doing their job – lack of ability, resources – all these things play into the problem of  MCoJ

Eyewitness – question the credibility – it is ‘notoriously unreliable’ and ‘pretty shaky’ – persuades the jury based on their shaky recollection and personal experience – think how unreliable our observations are.  People try to report on what happened months ago – danger of falsified evidence -  “everyone is fallible, alarmingly fallible” the crucial witness that fails to turn up and loses their memory on the day.

What systems can be put in place to mitigate the danger of a victim of MCoJ?

Legal aid system

Legal aid system which provides resources for defence lawyers to defend the suspect at every stage –starting from the police station right up to the court of appeal and beyond if they go to the CCRC.

“We are at the moment in the throws of terrible cuts to the legal aid system, including the criminal legal aid system but that doesn’t detract away from the fact our legal aid system even with the cuts is amazing” if you take it internationally the extraordinary thing about our criminal legal aid system is it’s not just young lawyers cutting their teeth into criminal cases it is everyone who is involved in criminal defence work does legal aid work including all the top QCs they spend most of their time year in year out doing criminal defence work  and that’s unique there isn’t a country in the world that does that.

Public money is being cut drastically cut – but it will still be better then practically any other country in the world – so to that extent we should be grateful

Tax money is there to support the defendant – there are elaborate rules and codes of practice about the system and handling of the suspect starting in the police station  - very important part of the system

Prior to the establishment of PACE – we had the judges rules – in 1984 involved in training the police – middle management of the police took on board what was happening to them with the new system and made it clear to the constable – the ordinary rooting of handling.

Stop and search for example doesn’t work as well. The whole apparatus of PACE and the rules constructed around PACE are vital safeguards and protection for the defendant.

Tape recording in the police station – we are one of the few countries to have every interview recorded – although the police hugely rejected the idea of tape recording they pretty quickly discovered it helped the prosecution as much as it helped the defence because once the defendant has confessed in the police station and many of them do confess once it is on tape that is the end of it. And arguments about bad treatment about police went away and happened much less. Tape recording in the police station is an enormous safeguard for everyone.

Trail by jury is a wonderful safeguard – Concept of the jury is rightly cherished

Appeal court –It took over 100 years to get an appeal court – it took a famous miscarriage of justice case – before that court was established 1907 previously there was 37 attempts to set up a court of appeal – 100 years of campaigning to get it – It is there to set matters right when things go wrong.

Criminal Case Review Commission [CCRC] 

On top of or beyond the Court of Appeal.

The Home Secretary was where you went previously if you thought you had been wrongfully convicted – mobilise public opinion and write to the home secretary – this is still available despite the CCRC – it is there as a possible final resource.

CCRC announced on the day Birmingham 6 were released – a decade of concern on the way the court dealt with terrorism cases and recognition that something terrible was amidst. That all these people had been convicted of terrible crimes – extraordinary acknowledgement that something needed to be done about MCoJ – The Runciman Royal Commission was set up – but it wasn’t just about miscarriages of justice – it also required the examination of the criminal justice system – in securing the conviction of those guilty of criminal offences – ‘make sure that the guilty get convicted’ – ensuring that the innocence are also not convicted. Try and find out who committed the crime and try and put them on trial. Set up for two years – 11 people all of whom were very busy and had all other jobs – 43 full day meetings plus endless other meetings, visits abroad ‘studying mountains of evidence’ very time consuming business. From my perspective I was the academic – we had to spend our time worrying about the whole system how to gear it the best we could to make sure the guilty were convicted, the innocent are not convicted and there is efficient use of resources.

Judges, barristers, solicitors, police officers, lay people – wonderful combinations of professionals involved.

Came up with 352 recommendations – 3 proved to be controversial

In fact what happened in regard to the recommendations – main ones were implemented which were designed to help the defence, to prevent the innocent getting convicted. (About 80 designed to help the defence) Most important of all the recommendations was the CCRC, which was then set up – everybody agreed. 

One or two current issues – firstly is the Court of Appeal fit for purpose in dealing with the defendants who think they are wrongfully convicted. – The problem is we all believe so passionately in the jury and the Court of Appeal worked on the basis that the jury is the fact finding body and it’s not our job as judges to over turn the jury’s verdict – they will simply say ‘we are the judges not the jury’ – the responsibility of deciding these cases is the jury – problem the defence has is to persuade the judge that the jury got it wrong, need to find a new strong point that might persuade them but ‘if there is nothing new you almost certainly won’t succeed.’

You can’t be convicted unless the majority of the jury agrees 10-2 – the jury must be beyond reasonable doubt. The prosecution has to satisfy three judges as well, if the three judges are doubtful then they ought to quash the convictions, but I don’t think we would ever reach that. There is this concept of the ‘lurking doubt’ – famous case known ‘The Cooper Case’ quashed on grounds that the Court of Appeal found a lurking doubt. In reality they have come to the view that there was something wrong with this case and we cannot let the jury’s verdict stand.

From the judges point of view they are reluctant to engage in the process that is involves reviewing all the evidence, and then make up their mind. ‘It’s a tricky area’ one can understand why the system is geared the way it is geared. The Court of Appeal do not like this lurking doubt approach at all – it’s very difficult unless there is something significant that is new. The answer is that it’s very unlikely to happen.

There are rules that are very severe about fresh evidence. They will not be easily persuaded because they see it as you have had your trial and you have had your time – if it was available at the time of the trial and it was not produced then tough you had the chance. The argument is that you should have done it at the first trial – very tough and difficult to get a re-trial at the Court of Appeal.

The Court of Appeal is not always as tough as it’s practice suggests – practice is variable – do the rules need to change? No – it just depends on the individual judges sitting on the day – they are influenced by the facts but not always in the right direction.

CCRC is limited in referring the case to the Court of Appeal by the test ‘is it probable’ is there a real possibility that the conviction could be quashed if we refer it? CCRC have to second guess if it’s enough for the Court of Appeal, therefore the Court of the Appeal are ‘in the driving seat’ when they decide to investigate the case they select the most promising and then sometimes present the results of this to the Court of Appeal. Should the test be different? I can’t see how it could be different. The formula is – Has there been a miscarriage of justice? Research that has been done is that the Scottish equivalent of the CCRC here is the same, the CCRC do not want to get into the position of investigating hopeless cases, they want the attitude that there is something seriously wrong with a case, anything else would be a disaster. No alternative to this assessment that could work any better.

Of course the CCRC should get more resources, amazingly it is one of the few institutions that has got more resources, which is amazing.

In summary we are left with a situation that will always be unsatisfactory, problematic and worrying. Any one with an interest in this subject will always be concerned – some people will have been wrongly convicted. There are some people that we believe to be innocent – that’s the main cause of concern, and they should not be convicted. ‘All one can do is tinker with the system and adjust it here and adjust it there to help reduce the problem.’ Over the last 20 years we probably have reduced the problem, the Runciman commission certainly played a role. It’s an on going issue.

Q + A Session

Q: Looking at the media there is not a lot of coverage in the media anymore, before we had programmes such as Rough Justice etc – is there a reason why the media has moved on, they are no longer as interested in MCoJ as they were in the good old days.

A: Absence of interest from the media is lack of resources, and the setting up of the CCRC. The organisation ‘Justice’ was run by Tom Sargent with the help of many lawyers and supports – Justice did great work, and they pressed for the setting up of the body like the CCRC years before Runciman – when it was set up Justice stopped investigating MCoJ cases because they said they were a tiny little outfit without many resources and now we have a big body set up so they will do the job – in Birmingham. They no longer bothered to investigate miscarriages because there was a big body set up to do the job, and the news papers likewise and the BBC thought ‘oh well we now have a big body set up to deal with miscarriages specifically so we won’t bother anymore’ – and some of that has now been taken on by innocent projects around the country which is good but an innocence project cannot do what a TV programme can do.

Q: You mentioned the cut backs occurring and in recent weeks Mansfield chambers announced it would be closing – do you perceive this as something the legal profession will adjust to and the level of service will be retained despite the legal aid cut backs?

A: I am as worried as anybody about this development it’s ‘terrible’ we have been living in the belief that this would not happen – Chris grayling – he is not a lawyer and probably doesn’t even like lawyers – will it lead to declining in the quality and quantity of legal aid – yes but will it be the end of the world – no. People will still get defended and do very well – will they earn as much? Clearly not. QCs making a lot of money on criminal legal aid - will they drift off to do any other work? If you look at the crown court virtually everybody has been represented on criminal legal aid – some of them will put hands in their pockets to pay the lawyers and they will.

There will obviously be serious short comings ‘I am gloomy but not in despair’ If I was the Secretary of state and the Treasury said I have to achieve a 20% cut would I have done the same? Possibly because you cannot say no to the treasury you have to do what the treasury says and criminal legal aid is one of the these- ‘we live in difficult times’.

Q: Crime and Justice Research Centre opening in the university benefits the people studying in the discipline, but how much benefit will it have for anyone walking on the street?

A: ‘None’ – it’s not for the benefit of someone walking on the street its for your benefit – ‘the chances of actually helping them are not very great so you have to start off with the assumption that it is going to be a lot of work that will probably lead no where’

It’s much better then being in the pub – grinding work may seem incredibly boring but when you look back after your experience on working on the programme – ‘a real life human drama’ – it was interesting and you did your best, ‘you made an inch of progress and there is a mile to go.’ ‘The world will not be grateful’. Only people that will be grateful are the families you are supporting – there is the possibility that you will ‘strike gold’ and find that ‘nugget’ but it is a lot of hard work.  

Q: Do you think the media applying pressure to the police for a conviction is still a significant problem?

A: The danger to a rush to judgment has happened, but can you do anything about that to help? No you cannot stop the press publishing stuff to grab the publics imagination – will that generate pressure on the police? Yes that’s just the fact of life that one will have to deal with. But the jury can be relied upon to listen to the evidence. In England there is no jury selection process it is genuinely random and over and done with in 5 minutes. And I think you can rely on the jury even if they have some vague idea of the case from the press as they will be so focused by being in the jury box as one of the most important and interesting things they have had to do. Experience of listening to the evidence is very vivid, people take it very serious. That’s my feeling for what it is worth.

Week 4 - The Justice Gap: Interview with Michael Mansfield QC

Mansfield: Level of collusion between police, politicians and media is ‘disturbing’

Mansfield calls for legal profession to strike against legal aid cuts

Week Four

Following the interview with Michael Mansfield the previous week, I continued to work on editing the footage from the interview down into separate categories as there was a few news agendas to cover, including legal aid, new chambers, police corruption and miscarriages of justice to name but a few. The video's above show part one and two of the interview.

This week I focused on the comments made about the collusion amongst the press and politicians as this was extremely topical this week with the all of the national press covering the 'plebgate' row. This therefore made it current on top of updating it on the day after a senior tory called for a royal commission for police to wear microphones and cameras to record their contact with the public.

This taught me the importance of making it topical to draw attention to it, we lead with our own interview quotes from Mansfield to make the article unique to the Justice Gap by using our own source. But I made it relevant to the storm around the plebgate saga by using quotes from Nick Clegg and from other professionals off twitter, radio broadcasts and newspapers.

Every article that is written is distributed across twitter targeting those of interest. They have been receiving a lot of attention from criminal barristers and legal professionals. Click the headlines to be directed to the articles

The topic of police corruption has received masses amount of press attention recently, therefore I wanted to get in touch with the National College of Policing to organise an interview with the Chief Executive Alex Marshall. This would of worked well for WINOL, it would of localised the story for the bulletin as he is the ex-chief constable for Hampshire. I hoped to speak about the 'unspoken immunity' amongst police that Mansfield commented on and give him the right to defend the police over the negative press that they have received. After speaking with his PR regarding Mansfield's comments on the level of distrust between the police and society he was not willing to comment on the matter.

Week 4 - WINOL: Debrief with Angus Scott

There is no definitive answer to journalism. 

We all have differing views but we all share the same goal - 

- to tell a story

The key focus is is the end product, no one really cares about the excuses and troubles along the way, the problem this week was storytelling.

We need to be pushing our stories forward, the initial news lead needs to be developed further and pushed into a TV package. We should be gasping the reaction more, who is being affected by it?

The bulletin this week was fairly picture light, lots of interviews and some big names amongst it including Steve Brine, Vince Cable and Chief Constable of Hampshire, but nearly all of these interviews didn't have a set up shot.

Set up shots are so important to link into an interview, and give you a few seconds to introduce who we are about to see. Even if its a walking shot, but sequence shots are so important, and crucial for TV.
On the topic of pictures, a variation of close and wide shots also makes it far more interesting, it gets boring if all the shots are of the same width and depth, experimentation and creativity is key.

Audio is of equal importance to Visual, you should always be monitoring the sound levels, using radio mic's with your interviewee. A note for reporters who are asking the questions, favour yourself and speak into the microphone when you are speaking, we want to hear your questions clearly too.

Presenters need to be breaking up the packages by looking down in between each story, this signifies that the story is finished and another begins.

Commentary such as "I am here" is banned, this is terrible TV everyone can see there is no need to explain. However, in other cases where you have a story that you assume everyone may know when they don't background explanation needs to be made explicit.

Overall this week, it was a good mix of stories again, but the bottom line is reporters have to continue to work harder, not give up and push the story on. Most importantly scripting to pictures and narratively telling the viewer the story is the biggest piece of advice to take away this week.

Week 2 and 3 - The Justice Gap

Week Two

This week in our Skype conference, I put forward the idea of reporting on the IPCC's update on the Hillsborough investigation. The stadium disaster is one of the biggest cases of police corruption. From the get-go the police failed the fans and families, covering up the truth of their wrongdoing. I wanted to get this message across in my article and therefore question the families on the police misconduct, especially after the pre-inquest hearing brought about new allegations that police footage may have been edited.

The Editors feedback last week was to ensure we are pushing our articles on rather then recycling press releases, finding solutions to get original quotes to make the article unique to the Justice Gap. Taking this on board I contacted the Hillsborough Justice Campaign and the Hillsborough Families support group to get a response from the people who are directly affected. I set up a phone interview with a man named Steven Kelly who sadly lost his brother in the crush, he openly was happy to comment on his feelings towards the coverup. This was a new experience for me, conducting an interview whereby it wasn't on camera, and therefore I couldn't rely on the footage to pick up the quotes. I had to write down what he was saying accurately and quickly! This is where the skill of shorthand would come in handy, therefore I am continuing to practise this skill to pick up speed.

When it comes to news writing, I've learnt that you need to lead with the best quotes, similarly to how you would in a news package by leading with your best pictures. The top line, followed by the powerful hard hitting quotes need to go straight at the top, no point in hiding them lower down as readers won't get that far. The editor praised how powerful and hard hitting the quotes were, his feedback was extremely encouraging. Initially he thought the quotes had been taken from a statement or from another publication but he was pleased to know that the quotes were all from my own source. From this week on, the importance of finding my own sources is in the forefront of my mind, adding human interest to each article is crucial and far more engaging for the readers. People who are willing to comment are on the other end of the phone, we just have to pick it up and target the people affected and willing to comment.

Click the headline below to read the full article.

Police corruption ‘rubs salt in wounds’ of Hillsborough families

Week Three

This was a big week for the Justice Gap Reporters, the editor organised a day trip to London to meet with some big names in the legal profession. First of all we headed to Hardwicke Building in Lincoln Inn where we set up our equipment in the room we had been given. We met with David Jessel who was the commissioner for the CCRC between 2000-2010 and Eddie Guilfoyle, an innocent man who is fighting to clear his name after wrongfully serving 18 years in prison for the murder of his wife. The case of this miscarriage of justice can be read here. We filmed Jessel interviewing Guilfoyle which will be uploaded on the Justice Gap website. It was an extremely interesting day to hear his story first hand and to be given the opportunity to speak with David Jessel regarding Jeremy Bamber which is a case I have closely followed.

We then moved on to Chancery lane to meet Michael Mansfield who was launching his new chambers that day. It was an absolute privilege to conduct the interview with Mansfield, who is the country's leading human rights barrister. Over the last few weeks I have been reading his book Memoires of a radical lawyer and I looked into the cases he has worked on including Birmingham 6, Stephen Lawrence, Jean Charles de Menezes, Hillsborough and most recently Mark Duggan.

Although I had a million questions I wanted to ask Mansfield, the main focus that I was informed of that morning was the launch of his new chambers, this brought to my attention that as journalists we have to be adaptable to get the freshest news scope that we can find. We must also take into consideration when dealing with influential professionals, there will be questions they won't be able to answer, in this instance there were several topics he was unable to comment on, such as Hillsborough as he is currently working on this case. His previous chambers Tooks closed down due to government cut backs on legal aid, and with the new chambers opening that day we made this the primary focus to lead with, turning the story around within a day to keep it current. You can watch this part of the interview here.

I transcribed the video to include the quotes in my article which accompanied the video. Doing a lengthy interview was good practise for me, as it allowed me to consider leads into different news agendas, cutting down the footage into different topics.

It was a real pleasure to meet Mansfield, an extremely valuable experience. I look forward to sharing the other parts of the interview with you, which will go up on the Justice Gap website next week.

Michael Mansfield QC with the Crime Unit

Week 2 - WINOL: News Editor - Package Feedback

COMPASS - Chief Reporter - Matt Spencer
This lead the bulletin because it was the most recent and freshest news we had. You overlooked and managed the entire meeting very professionally, turning this story around really quickly in a day. You found a news angle about sexual offences increasing which moved the piece on from just being a puff piece about the meeting being held in our own studios. Big credit to you for arranging the event, you have continued to deliver and built up a trusting relationship with these contacts.

SCHOOL TEST - Education Reporter - Emma Wright
You did really well to get access into a local school, you got some good cutaways ensuring that you didn't identify any of the children so well done for abiding by the laws of consent. You have a good lead into the interview with the head teacher, and balance with the statement but remember rule of thirds you could zoom in tighter to her face.

BEES - Environment Reporter - Ellen Millard
This was a good follow up story with new advances on research, you scripted well to your pictures and it was visually interesting - lots of cutaways, good use of archive footage and the framing of the interview with the scientist is faultless. Love the PTC at the end of the piece, it's entertaining for the viewers that you are in the uniform, only criticism is it's over exposed - crouching down by the hive away from the sunlight would of been better.

OOV Belt - Nadine and Alex
The announcement of UKIPs candidate for the European election in London was canceled so it was a shame that you couldn't go down and film as originally planned. But you still delivered the results with archive footage from Eastleigh elections. Although the horse clip was filmed off an iPhone it was good initiative from Ellen to film it.

COURT - Crime Reporter - Tom Wright
This story received a lot of media attention so you did really well to get into the packed public gallery! All the legal requirements were passed and you managed to get a mugshot to positively identify the defendant - ideally it would have been good to get a photo from police of the victim. Good PTC outside court, shame it couldn't be on location. You did slow down from last week, but you need to slow down a bit more so the viewer can digest what you are saying. Visuals with court reports are often minimal so I like the use of a reconstruction.

STOPTOBER - Health Reporter - Zeena Alobaidi
I was extremely pleased with this package, you really illustrated the story well. You really followed what I asked for and delivered an opening sequence with both wide and close up shots. I like the creativity for the stats with the smoke in the background but next time include where you got the figures from on screen. Well done on securing the interview with a local nurse, you got lots of cutaways of her at work which allowed you to lead into your interview smoothly. Remember rule of thirds, get in closer as there was a lot of background space, and don't forget to white balance the camera. You included a case study which is what the piece needed, but ideally it would be more trusting if it wasn't a student.

CRICKET GROUD - Business Reporter Harvey Taylor
This news piece would have been higher up in the bulletin but because it was sports related I kept it before sport. Good access on to the cricket grounds and you got plenty of rushes of the building work to illustrate the story. Well done on getting an interview with Councillor Keith House I know no one from the construction company wanted to be filmed but ideally the only thing missing was to hear from the cricket fans.

BABY ZEBRA - Community reporter - Lucy Wilson
This was the perfect 'and finally' as it was a lighter news piece, you got lots of cut aways of the new baby zebra, but a lot of them were mid shots so think about getting varied wide and close up shots. Good job on getting an interview with the zookeeper, to lift the piece some vox pops would of worked naturally. You have narratively scripted this piece well and you have a confident PTC at the end of the piece, but avoid comment e.g 'sense of excitement in the air' this is what we want to hear from the visitors.

Overall, this week went well, and there was a good mix of stories adding light and shade to the bulletin. There was definite improvements on audio and visual from the week before and the new reporters have a clear idea of what elements need to be included in a package. Continue to think hard about scripting, and have an idea of what your link is going to be early on so when it comes to voicing over your packages you don't repeat what was said in the link. Packages are only going to get better as the broadcast quality improves, don't be afraid to order the subject around to get the shots that you have planned ahead.

Week 2 - WINOL: News Editor Update

News writing
All reporters need to have a written story up on the website every week - follow this checklist when writing your stories:
1. Headlines - 'subject, verb, object' - do not use adjectives
2. Top line - 5 w's - must begin with people -  banned from starting with a body e.g. Hampshire County Council
3. Main body - facts must always be right, and from original source - 'you don't always have to be right but you must never be wrong'
4. Quotes - essential to bring the story to life
5. Photograph - to illustrate the story, crucial for viewers on the website
6. Figures: above 10 and below 3 include number otherwise write the word e.g. 'five'

Packages
Don't try to be original, this is news do it exactly how its been done before and how you see it on TV. VTs must:
1. Begin with your best pictures - engage the viewer from the start - don't begin with a piece to camera
2. Rich NAT SOT at the start to accompany visual
3. Views must be balanced

Things to think about wh Meadeen filming:
1. Lighting - white balance cameras, check shot is not over exposed, do not film in front of a window or in a really dark room!
2. Framing - rule of thirds, don't be afraid to get in close to your interviewee
3. Audio - radio mic your interviewee, check your sound levels before you interview them it should not be peaking but the green bar should be passed the half way mark, move the channel dials up and make sure you are on manual so that you are in control!
4. Shots - film sequence shots to link into your interviews you need to have lots of rushes and cut aways to cover jump cuts. Editing will be made so much easier if you have a variety of shots, be creative with your angles, hold your shots, zooms and pans are now banned - avoid this my taking varied wide shots and close ups.
5. Interviews - do not introduce the interviewee e.g. "I went down to speak to..." We can see this!

News conference
Reporters this week has the potential to be great, we have a good mix of stories - just need to pull the interviews through and make the calls.

Tom -  Court report - Brilliant text story already up on the website, just get the mug shot up online now to positively identify the defendant. This story has received a lot of press already so I'm really impressed you got this story from court. Try get hold of any photographs from police that can visually boost your package. Aim for 40-60 seconds PTC outside court, speak slowly and clearly to keep viewer engaged.
Lucy - New baby Zebra born in Marwell Zoo - This is going to make a really nice 'and finally' package - keep it simple, lots of quality shots of the zebra and the zoo will bring this story to life, push to get hold of a zoo keeper, but the main focus here is the zebra so think about angles and varied shots. Do your PTC inside the zoo, no guilty signs we know you are there, we want to see something interesting and relevant in the background.
Harvey - Half built hotel on cricket ground - This story is a great local story which will interest our audience, we established Eastleigh Borough Council is investing therefore push to get an interview with a council representative, e.g. Keith House. Well done for getting access into the grounds, film loads of rushes so when it comes to editing you have lots to play with.
Emma - 177,000 6 year olds cannot read or write - I know you're doing your best to contact local schools, keep pushing as visually you want to have the subject straight at the top of your package, without the children baring in mind the legal issues this package has the danger to be visually weak. Contacting the university education department for their view will work well and localise the story.
Nadine - Well done for getting access tomorrow into the announcement of UKIPs regional representatives for the European elections, good work on using your contacts and organising an interview with Diane James, grab as many political figures as you can, with the help of Alex this will be a great political story which you already plan to localise with the south east region representative. Good luck tomorrow, keep me updated. Alex please Tweet as the day goes on with any breaking updates and take some stills so we can use them for text stories.
Ellen - Scientists reveal pollution is destroying bees smell - Great idea to use stock footage and show the clip from 'earlier in the year', this is a good development story, stock footage of the bees will lift the package, be a bonus to get a beekeeper and you doing a PTC in the outfit. I know you've made lots of calls already and you are just waiting to hear back from them, hopefully the scientist and beekeeper will be in touch. 

Zenna - 'Stoptober' awareness -  Fantastic work this week, you had already organised your interviews and have spoken with a nurse already. I know you're in contact with someone who is doing Stoptober, with the case study this piece will be brilliant, get lots of cut aways of cigarettes, smoke and remember what I said about being creative with the scripting and shots, this can be a really visually led story. Well done for taking on board what I said about the lighting and interesting backdrops, from what i've seen already you have listened to what I said.
Calum - Loads of ideas again this week, keep them in the pipeline, the national park story will attract our local audience so I am pleased your running with this one. The others were a bit news weak, but the ACSO story can be developed on when you find a news angle. Good work getting an interview organised with Councillor Mel Kendal, film sequence shots with him to tie into his interview, and avoid pans of the green space, just hold the shots.
Spence - Compass meeting tomorrow - keep in mind that we may need to recycle some of this meeting and put it in to the bulletin. I've seen the coffee house session edit, really well done for all your hard work editing please get it up soon as you can.
Liam - You're working on a feature this week, but good work trying to push for several different news stories this week.

Sport - Tom Baxter - great news to hear you covered the match with three cameras looking forward to seeing the footage. Once I've seen the features I can decide if we need to fill space in the bulletin but we will keep in contact.

Main notes from editors meeting is that we need to continue to boost our public profile online, keep tweeting please its crucial to target relevant audiences. 

We are also looking to produce a 'contact page' online so that people can contact us with ideas they may have.

Good Luck to everyone with their stories, remember we want quality sound and visuals, as well as amazing content!

Back to Work, Week One

Winchester News Online has been sponsored by The Justice Gap this year, it is our role as the crime unit to write news reports weekly for the website, which plays host to many articles relating to the law and justice. I will keep you updated on the stories I am working on, by linking them through my blog. You will be able to view each article by clicking on the headline links.

Week One

During the Skype conference, the editor suggested several different current news ideas that we could write about. Personally I found the IPCC's statement regarding their satisfaction with the South Wales Police's investigation into police corruption over the Lynette White case the most interesting. It is an extremely high profile miscarriage of justice, which relates to my own personal interest within the legal system, therefore I was extremely engaged into researching this case. 

A phone interview was set up with the investigative journalist Satish Sekar, who worked closely on this case, to find out what he believed should come from these conclusions. The beauty of broadcast is that we can rely on the camera to get all our quotes down accurately, however with print I had to adjust to listening to the spoken quotes, and selectively writing these down whilst thinking about what question I wanted to discuss next. 

The editor suggested that I could of developed this article further by leading the article with Satish's comments. Our own quotes from the investigative journalist had the power to take the story on, I could of included a lot more coverage on what he had to say, and it shouldn't have been as low down in the article. This feedback taught me that we should always lead with the original source, that will attract human interest.

To view the article click the headline link below. 

IPCC sign off investigation into Cardiff Three Police corruption

Broadcast journalism is what WINOL specialises in, after delivering court reports weekly last semester it was something I became a lot more confident with, I built up contacts within Hampshire police and I was comfortable knowing what needed to be done. However, print journalism is something I have not had a great amount of experience doing, therefore this has been a challenge for me, and one that I am eager to practise and improve on. To be commissioned to write articles is the perfect opportunity for me to improve upon a personal weakness.

A week from now, the team will be down in London, we will be producing video interviews with David Jessel, Eddie Gilfoyle and Michael Mansfield QC. I have been preparing for the interview with human rights Barrister Michael Mansfield who has covered many high profile cases such as Birmingham 6, Hillsborough, Steven Lawrence, and more recently Mark Duggan, to name just a few.

Aside from working on The Justice Gap, the crime unit will continue to produce video reports for WINOL. I went down with the new crime reporters to Winchester Crown Court this week to take them through the stages of producing a report - from sitting in court, to passing the legal requirements through to obtaining convicted photographs and scripting for broadcast. 

This week Ian Anderson, the former editor of BBC 10 o'clock news was the guest editor. He was extremely impressed with the professionalism of the WINOL team. He gave individual feedback to all the reporters on their packages, and questioned the news editor on his running order of the stories. This was the first week back, and with some people producing packages for the first time there were some hiccups in terms of audio and camera work. Ian commented on how equally important it is to have good audio to match the visuals, begin with the best shots first, the first 20 seconds of your video need to be the most engaging, and give the viewer a reason to want to continue watching. 

I will be the news editor next week, my main goal is to ensure that all reporters focus on the quality of their output, they proved last week that the content can be superb so my main aim is to ensure the quality of the filming is up to scratch, paying close attention to the lighting, rule of thirds, and sound.

Reporting the Courts

This week I attended a first year media law lecture on reporting the courts. As the specialist court reporter for WINOL I was asked to come and speak to the new generation of journalists, about my experiences as a crime and court reporter.

For anyone interested in learning about the UK court system here are my notes.

Courtesy of Winchester Journalism 

Two Jurisdictions: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and The Republic of Ireland

In the UK, the supreme power lies in Her Majesty the Queen. The royal prerogative is the body recognised in common law and sometimes in civil law jurisdictions possessing a monarchy. The Queen does not have to obey parliament as she has the overruling power. The government are there to advise the Queen, and Palace Whitehall which is the main residence for English Monarchs help run the country.

Executive - They run the country - (HM the Queen) - Whitehall

Legislature - Keep it in check (Parliament) - Westminster

Judiciary - Mediates between executive and legislature - Administer Justice

Society - Freedom to voice opinion

Crime is an offence against society as a whole e.g murder

Civil law is a dispute between two citizens e.g divorce

Standard of Proof - Beyond reasonable doubt 
The jury must prove that the accused did it beyond doubt. They must find the person not guilty unless they are absolutely sure that only this person has committed the crime.

Criminal division is all about punishment, it is not about compensation for victims unlike civil law.

Crime is a breach of a statute (Law passed by Parliament). Police can arrest on suspicion, but must have 'reasonable grounds' for arrest.

It is known as a committal when someone who has been arrested for a serious crime is held in a cell for up to 24 hours. When they are charged they charged they appear before a magistrates, the defendant in a serious case will then be sent to a crown court to be trialled in front of a jury.

A minor offence, known as non indictable are processed in a Magistrates Court. In a Magistrates court there is no jury. An indictable, major offence is then processed by the Crown Court where a jury is present. The jury is made up of 12 randomly selected citizens, no one is allowed to talk to the jury incase they influence or intimidate them.

If people fail to attend their trial it is treated as a separate offence known as 'absconding'.

The defendant has not been given a fair trial if the jury are prejudice, this means that they have pre-judged them. If this occurs, the defendant will be let of as the judge will deem it as unsafe.

The accused can either be held on remand which is down in the cells, or be granted bail. For lesser offences, they can be on bail for up to two years before there trial reaches the Crown Court. Police can refuse bail if they think the defendant is a danger to the public or if they think they will abscond and run away. In terrorism cases the defendant can be held without charge for 28 days.

In the British System the person accused must be present in the court.

Criminal Cases Review Commission

The CCRC is the independent body set up to investigate potential miscarriages of justice. They have an annual budget of £6.5m which is a stark contract from the CPS who receive annual budget of £700 million. The CCRC is formed by statute and is funded by the Ministry of Justice. It does not act for the defence it is independent of government, the courts, CPS and the defence.

The CCRC was established after high profile miscarriages of justice such as the bombing cases in 1970 shook the publics confidence in the criminal justice system e.g. Birmingham 6 and Guildford 4. The 70s and 80s marked a turbulent time in England due to terrorism attacks. The IRA were planting bombs in England and he public feared for their safety when bombs were going off in public houses. At the time there was huge pressure on the police to find out who was behind the bombings. Papers were screaming for the police to do something and there was a strong anti-irish feeling amongst people.

Gerry Conlon, was one of the Guildford 4 who was tortured and targeted by police into confessing to a crime he did not commit, all four of the accused were completely innocent. This case received a great deal of national support, the press continued to dig, questions were asked, programs such as 'world in action' and 'rough justice' investigated the case, campaigns were launched and human rights barrister's such as Mansfield and Pierce were defending them.

The Birmingham 6 were released after serving 16 years in prison. On their release Paddy Hill stood outside and pointing to the courts he says: "Justice, these people cant sell the word, they're rotten". This was a harrowing moment, it was a moment where the criminal justice system was broken, the entire nation were told a complete lie.

A Royal commission was set up on the day they were released in 1991 in order to investigate what went wrong and to fix the sheer doubt everyone now had in the system. Two years on, they concluded that the legal system could not handle Miscarriages of Justice therefore a separate body, which is now the CCRC was set up. Lord Runciman was the Royal Commissioner for the CCRC. The body was set up in March 1997 by The Criminal Appeal Act 1995.

Before 1997, anyone who had exhausted the appeal process could write to the Home Secretary, this was a very effective process. Only 10 cases would ever go to the Court of Appeal, but with the new body on average 35 cases are sent for appeals. There are also Innocent projects which have been set up by the Innocence Network UK (INUK), but still to date no prisoner has ever walked free from an Innocence Project.

The CCRC is a prisoners final resort, but 96% of the cases sent are rejected, this is because prisoners either have no new evidence, or they are applying because they think they have nothing to lose and in denial of their guilt. In order to be eligible to apply to the CCRC you have to be convicted in England, Wales or Northern Ireland. You can only refer your case if you have fresh evidence and a new argument. The two main statutory powers of the CCRC are:
1. They have full access to all the documents and materials from any public body.
2. They can appoint an outside officer to investigate the case.

1000 people apply to the CCRC a year, but this year it has doubled. Prisoners who are not very educated and unable to read and write may have struggled to fill the form out, but a new form has been released with pictures to illustrate the questions.

PACE Law - outlines the regulations and laws for police to abide by, police misconduct before PACE law were likely to of been more common.