Knocking at the door to the family courts: two journalists’ experiences, two years apart

by Louise Tickle | Oct 16, 2017 | Cases, Comment, FCReportingWatch, Trends

Last month, senior BuzzFeed reporter Emily Dugan spent three days at Birmingham’s central family and civil court, researching a fascinating and in-depth article that detailed the effects of legal aid cuts on people who can’t afford a lawyer and who therefore...

Re Nichol: an unsent text message as a valid will

by Barbara Rich | Oct 15, 2017 | Cases, Comment, Court of Protection, FCReportingWatch

UPDATE 18 October – I’ve added a footnote to discuss some points which have been raised in Twitter conversations following my original post. On 11 October 2017, this headline appeared on the BBC news website.  The story naturally aroused a lot of interest...

News Media Association fails in claim for judicial review of Press Recognition Panel

by Paul M | Oct 13, 2017 | Cases, Comment

UPDATE 16 October: It is now reported that the NMA is lodging an appeal against the decision explained below. Details here. The High Court has rejected NMA’s claim for judicial review of the PRP’s decision to recognise IMPRESS as an independent, charter-compliant...

Fair, accurate and balanced – while being stopped from reporting the facts?

by Louise Tickle | Oct 9, 2017 | Cases, Comment, FCReportingWatch, Notorious

The Muslim foster care case first reported in The Times has prompted harsh criticism of the choices made by journalists when investigating complaints about poor social work practice. I make no comment on the writing, front page positioning, headline or the intentions...

More adoption or faster adoption?

by Lucy R | Oct 3, 2017 | Cases, Comment, Explanation, FCReportingWatch

“Delayed adoption is sure to damage a child”, writes Clare Foges for The Times (paywall). “Attempting to place children with family members has stalled the process to an alarming extent” says the subheader. Here we go again. For children who...

The muslim foster carer case again – what else has emerged?

by reporting watch team | Oct 2, 2017 | Analysis, Cases, Explanation, FCReportingWatch, Notorious

We have covered the case originally headlined “Christian child forced into foster care” on a number of occasions. Our earlier posts can be found here : Religious and cultural identity in foster care, 28 Aug The most secretive court in all of Christendom…,...