A weekly news editor has claimed journalists are treated “worse than criminals” by court staff after one of his reporters was barred from taking notes in a hearing.

Steve Neale, of East London title the Yellow Advertiser, was forced to involve the Ministry of Justice after the manager of Stratford Magistrates Court told trainee reporter Michael Cox he would need press ID in order to take notes during proceedings.

Michael, who had just begun his fifth day in the job when the incident took place on Friday morning, is currently in the process of applying for an NUJ card and had been sent to the court by Steve, pictured left, with a note written on Advertiser-headed paper explaining who he was.

But court manager Teresa Williams told Michael it was policy not to allow someone to report from the press benches unless they were carrying accredited identification.

Despite Steve confirming Michael’s position over the phone she insisted he wouldn’t be allowed to report from the courtrooms, and it was only after the Ministry of Justice intervened at Steve’s request that Michael was allowed to take up his position.

Steve, who had also attempted to phone the court on Thursday to make them aware Michael would be attending, told HTFP that such problems are being encountered on a weekly basis by his staff.

He said: “I don’t think it’s a willful measure to make the courts secret. I think that it’s a culture that’s crept into our society in the last 10 years that the press is an evil thing and needs to be restricted at all costs.

“Because there’s a lack generally of reporters in courts, when there’s an appearance on the press benches there’s this sort of attitude of ‘who do you think you are?’ We’re being treated worse than criminals.”

A spokesman for HM Courts and Tribunals Service, the executive agency responsible for courts on behalf of the Ministry of Justice, said the incident was “a genuine mistake”.