Court Reporting

Information on our court reporting, including why we ‘name and shame’ people in our stories.

Bath Magistrates’ Court

Since the introduction of our increased crime and court reporting, we’ve been contacted by concerned members of the public, defendants and guilty parties regarding the inclusion of their names, ages, and partial addresses.

We are proud to be able to provide court coverage of cases at Bath Magistrates’ Court, something that many local newspapers are unable to do due to restricted time for their reporters.

Reporting court cases acts as a deterrent against crime.

Printing a defendant’s age and address stops anyone with the same name from being defamed.

We do not have access to police or CPS files regarding cases, so everything reported is based on what the prosecution and defence say during a court hearing.

HM Courts & Tribunals Service encourages and facilitates media access to courts and tribunals.

We have the right to attend and report on proceedings held in open court, unless a statutory restriction applies, or a court order prevents this.

Our stories are governed by the regulator IMPRESS, the Independent Monitor for the Press.

We follow their dedicated Standards Code, which can be found at https://bit.ly/4n0d9qN.