Complaint
A relative of two of the defendants in the trial covered in these articles complained that 鶹 News Online had reported the case for the prosecution but not the case for the defence. The ECU considered the complaint in the light of the 鶹’s editorial standards of fairness in relation to the reporting of crime.
Outcome
The 鶹’s guidelines on reporting crime say “Unfairness may occur if we fail to report both the prosecution and defence cases. Having started covering court proceedings, we must report the verdict. If we are able and wish to cover a trial live on social media we must consistently cover the prosecution and defence case or only cover the verdict”. In this instance, although the verdict had been reported, the defence case had not. It had already been acknowledged in correspondence with the complainant that this had led to potential unfairness, and the ECU agreed with that acknowledgement.
Upheld
Further action
The 鶹 obtained court transcripts of the defence case for each of the defendants and added appropriate details to the two articles, together with explanatory notes. The finding was reported to the management of 鶹 News and discussed with the relevant editorial staff.