Why we cover local courts — and charge to read it

Welcome to our monthly look at what goes on behind the scenes when we are working on articles at the Stray Ferret. We think the effort we put in distinguishes us from the pack and hopefully provides an additional reason, beyond our seven-days-a-week rolling news service, to subscribe. This article is free to read. To access all our content, subscribe here.

The Stray Ferret had a reporter at Harrogate Magistrates Court all day today (April 3). We will also attend tomorrow. Almost without exception, we are the only news organisation there.

We also keep an eye on nearby courts in York, Leeds and Skipton, where cases involving local people are heard, and sometimes pay freelance court reporters for articles.

Journalists have reported on court cases for centuries. It’s a fundamental principle of law that justice is not only done but seen to be done, and publishing cases quickly, fairly and accurately in the media helps to achieve this.

Court reporting is important — but it’s also costly. Journalists can spend hours in court waiting for cases to start, only to find they are quickly adjourned or dismissed. This week one of our staff wasted a day going to Leeds for a trial only to discover, after hours of waiting, that it wasn’t going ahead.

That’s why many media organisations no longer send reporters to court. They can publish more articles sitting at their desks or using artificial intelligence.

We aspire to do more than that, which is why we are frequently out and about in the community, covering courts, inquests and council meetings as well as speaking to people about human interest stories. We spend hours poking around in council documents and submitting freedom of information requests.

The economics of local news has changed with advertising revenue dropping, which means that the only way of covering these stories is if people directly pay for it. In bygone years, people thought nothing of paying for newspapers to read about court cases. It’s the same principle now.

We are good value - a subscription to the Telegraph is £29.99 per month. For the Times it's £25.99 per month - we are £4.99 a month and less if you pay annually.  

There was recently a social media frenzy about this article we published about a child sex offender. Some said we should have made it free-to-read.

We were the only news organisation to report on the case and other cases involving sex offenders and peodophiles. Quite simply, without the Stray Ferret, it would not have been published at all. Without putting these articles behind a pay-wall we would not exist. 

We would love to provide more articles for free, but it simply isn’t possible in the real world.  

Please enable us to continue to cover local courts by subscribing here to the Stray Ferret. You will get access to all our content, and help to ensure we continue to provide a vital democratic function.