Court reporting is one of the oldest specialties in the journalistic profession, but with newsrooms shrinking in size, the craft has slowly been eroded. The SA National Editor’s Forum, an industry body focused on nurturing media freedom and improving the work of journalists, contracted the Institute for the Advancement of Journalism and iNtatheli Media to facilitate a five-part multimedia training programme, which touched on the basics of court reporting, the differences between civil and criminal cases, reporting on children and the coverage of commissions.
The course was aimed at providing a grounding in court reporting to young journalists as well as providing a refresher for journalists who had been covering court cases without a full understanding.
The course began with a session on Understanding the legal system, which detailed the different levels of the legal system and the work of different courts. Yvonne van Niekerk from the Office of the Chief Justice and Advocate Mthunzi Mhaga from the National Prosecuting Authority provided insights as part of the multimedia component of the course.
The remaining webinars focused on reporting on children and vulnerable groups, covering commissions of inquiry and the role of the judiciary.
The SA National Editor’s forum commended iNtatheli Media on how the webinars were conducted. “The training sessions were delivered professionally, and the feedback from participants was positive as they benefited from the experience of Messrs Hawker and Bailey, and the other professionals they invited. SANEF can testify to the brilliant work that was delivered by Intatheli Media, a company we can certainly work with in the future,” said Reggy Moalusi, SANEF executive director