UK Inquiry Tracker

Open justice: court reporting in the digital age

Justice Committee Closed Inquiry

Opened: 17 Sep 2021 Closed: 14 Sep 2023 Parliament page

This short inquiry sought to understand how digital technology has affected the way that the media and the public access and report on the courts. Read the call for evidence to find out more about this inquiry .

13 Recommendations

32 Conclusions

1 Report

2 Oral sessions

2 Events

Activity timeline 4 events

16 Jan
2023

Report published

Seventh Special Report - Open justice: court reporting in the digital age: Government Response to the Committee’s Fifth Report of Session 2…

1 Nov
2022

Report published

Fifth Report - Open justice: court reporting in the digital age

11 Jan
2022

Oral evidence

Oral evidence session

9 Nov
2021

Oral evidence

Oral evidence session

Oral evidence sessions 2 sessions

11 Jan 2022

View on parliament.uk

Dr Natalie Byrom · Faculty of Laws, UCL John Battle · Media Lawyers Association Sir Andrew McFarlane · Family Division

9 Nov 2021

View on parliament.uk

Dr Judith Townend · University of Sussex Ms Emily Pennink · Press Association Ms Maeve McClenaghan · The Bureau of Investigative Journalism

Reports 1 report · click to expand

Title	HC No.	Published	Items	Response
Fifth Report - Open justice: court reporting in the digital age	HC 339	1 Nov 2022	45	Response document linked

Recommendations & Conclusions

45 results

1 Conclusion

Fifth Report - Open justice: court…

MPs need to visit family courts to understand daily justice system issues.

We would encourage every family court in England and Wales to invite their local MPs to visit so that they can hear accounts of the issues facing the family justice system from those who are responsible for delivering justice on a daily basis.

Ministry of Justice

Open justice: court reporting in the digital age

Activity timeline 4 events

Oral evidence sessions 2 sessions

Reports 1 report · click to expand

Recommendations & Conclusions

MPs need to visit family courts to understand daily justice system issues.

Need for a White Paper clarifying public rights to court access in the digital age

Government and Parliament must legislate on the proper limits of open justice

Digital age requires collaboration for balanced open justice without damaging quality

Concerning decline in news media coverage of courts, especially Magistrates’ courts

Decline in court reporting negatively affects open justice in England and Wales

HMCTS must enhance direct communication and provide media information to facilitate court reporting

Practical barriers create a chilling effect on open justice for journalists and the public

Public must be aware of their rights to attend court proceedings and access information

Publish a citizens’ charter outlining public rights to access court information

Need for a single point of contact for all media and public court inquiries

Public understanding of court proceedings and attendance rights requires enhancement.

Listing email addresses for remote hearing access is crucial for all court websites.

Lack of coherence and consistency in remote hearing access for public and media.

Gather and publish detailed data on remote court proceeding observation requests by jurisdiction.

Crown Court case outcome information for journalists lags behind Magistrates' Court provision.

Digitisation and consolidation of court and tribunal lists into single service welcomed.

Consider expanding digital portal to include all court information, results, and restrictions.

Committee awaits update on Civil Procedure Rule Committee's work to improve document access.

Establish streamlined digital portal for court document and reporting restriction access.

Comprehensive review of access to open court documents and potential legislation required.

Reporting restrictions show inconsistency in notification and ineffective compliance on social media

Enable the proposed digital portal to access a centralised database of reporting restrictions

Current arrangements for court transcripts found to be unsatisfactory

Explore AI-powered transcription pilots and review contracts to improve court transcript accessibility

National Archives Find Case Law Service should be first step for judgment accessibility

Reform judgment collection, storage, and publication to reduce reliance on commercial publishers

Publish all Crown Court sentencing remarks in accessible audio or written form

Require Government to provide status update on open justice project funding and completion

New legislative framework enhances open justice through remote court observation

Evaluate the new remote observation framework considering court resources and transmissions

Commission an evaluation of the new framework's first year of operation by June 2023.

Livestreaming court proceedings offers significant potential to enhance open justice and public accessibility.

Broadcasting Crown Court sentencing remarks positively enhances open justice and public understanding.

Commission research to identify suitable civil and criminal proceedings for broadcast and video archiving.

Judicial Review and Courts Act 2022 changes require evaluation of impact on open justice.

Documenting and timely online publication of court information can mitigate open justice concerns.

Single Justice Procedure's lack of transparency remains a significant concern.

Review the Single Justice Procedure to enhance transparency through timely publication of information.

Strengthen open justice governance by formalising Data Governance Panel and establishing user group.

Ask Law Commission to propose reform of Section 12 for better transparency-confidentiality balance.

Media access to Family Courts supported, but resource allocation and reporting interest remain uncertain.

Success of informative family court lists pilot depends on identifying cases of public interest.

Target to publish 10% of judgments faces concerns about anonymisation unit resources.

Provide requisite resources to establish anonymisation unit for safe publication of Family Court judgments.