Flying under the Radar: Experiencing the Court of Protection Transparency Pilot as an academic researcher

by Julie Doughty | Oct 22, 2017 | Comment, Court of Protection

This is a guest post by Gillian Loomes, a PhD researcher at the University of Leeds Law School Earlier this year, I spent a month attending hearings in the Court of Protection (CoP) as a public observer. This was part of my PhD (a socio-legal study examining how the...

“A very provocative broadside” – are women really destroying marriage?

by reporting watch team | Oct 22, 2017 | Comment, FCReportingWatch

This is a guest post by Jo Edwards. Jo is a partner and Head of Family at Forsters solicitors and former Chair of Resolution. She tweets as @MissJoEdwards. “Women are destroying marriage!” screamed a line that caught my eye on Twitter this week. As I...

Trying to report the family courts – a BBC reporter’s experience

by reporting watch team | Oct 17, 2017 | Comment, FCReportingWatch

This is a guest post by Sanchia Berg. Sanchia is a BBC Reporter and tweets as @sanchia7.   “Go down and see what you can get” was the commission from the then Today Editor Ceri Thomas. It was April 27 2009, the first day English Family Courts were...

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...

Family Court Reporting Watch Roundup

by reporting watch team | Oct 16, 2017 | FCReportingWatch

Correcting, clarifying or commenting on media reports of family court cases Explaining or commenting on published Judgments of family court cases Highlighting other transparency news   MEDIA (MIS)REPORTS OF FAMILY COURT CASES   Eastenders at the BBC –...

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...

But What About the Children? Hearing the Voice of Children and Young People in court proceedings

by Sarah P | Oct 13, 2017 | Events, Trends

On Monday 9th March 2017 I attended the Nagalro Autumn Conference which examined how children’s voices are heard in court proceedings about them. Nagalro is the Professional Association for children’s guardians, family court advisors and independent social...

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...

Eastenders – gritty real life drama or just running down social workers again?

by Lucy R | Oct 11, 2017 | Comment, FCReportingWatch

Eastenders has recently run a story line about child protection. It hasn’t gone down very well with social workers, with many newspapers covering the criticism of it along the lines set out in The Daily Mail here : Viewers have slammed an...

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...