Journalism students learned to reflect on how they cover court cases after a senior legal officer highlighted concerns coming from the other side of the bench.

Glasgow sheriff Rita Rae explained the difficulties of sentencing to students at the Scottish Centre for Journalism Studies.

She also explained how the press sometimes were critical of decisions reached - yet seemed unaware of how it compromised the reputation of the judiciary in the eyes of the public.

Sheriff Rae also made them aware of how misunderstandings over the law resulted in poor reporting.

She cited one case when a sheriff was castigated in the press for letting a murder defendant out on bail, allowing him to go on holiday. In reality the crown had not opposed bail, so the sheriff actually had no alternative.

Sheriff Rae also said she was pleased that barriers between journalists and the judiciary were tumbling. She admitted that only ten years ago, a visit to face student journalists on these issues would have been inconceivable.

The new role of internet journalism was mentioned, with Rita giving an example of a newspaper encouraging online comment on a trial that had just started. Sheriff Rae acknowledged that on being alerted to this faux pas, the publication quickly withdrew the comment section.

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