Journalism trainers have won a fight to win better court access for students.

The National Council for the Training of Journalists has struck a deal with HM Courts and Tribunals Service to facilitate access to more hearings, either in person or via video link.

The NCTJ vowed in September to push HMCTS to improve court access after a poll of more than 30 journalism training providers found just one in five students had been able to access cases being heard remotely during the coronavirus pandemic.

As a result, the NCTJ has now put leaders of its accredited courses in touch with the relevant court managers in their regions, with the support of HMCTS.

City of Wolverhampton College journalism students have been among those to benefit after gaining access to a morning session at Dudley Magistrates’ Court via video link last month.

The college’s NCTJ diploma course leader Dani Wozencroft said: “I had been struggling to arrange court visits or online access for learners for the past two cohorts.

“Courts this year were still maintaining social distancing and small public galleries meant they couldn’t accommodate a class of trainee journalists as well as friends/relatives of those concerned in proceedings.

“Court visits are a vital part of our studies and it was a huge concern for me, so I enlisted the help of the NCTJ.

“Through them, we were able to arrange to watch a morning session of Dudley Magistrates Court. This was a major benefit for learners to complement their studies.

“In many ways it worked better than an in-person court visit as we were able to talk through what we were seeing and question issues arising.”

Dani, pictured, added: “Everyone was very accommodating and welcoming and all learners have agreed that it was a great boost to their court reporting module.”

Jonny Greatrex, course leader of the MA News Journalism course at Nottingham Trent University, added: “With the NCTJ’s support we’ve been able to build our best ever relationship with our local courts and get students access to live feeds to cover proceedings remotely.

“Nothing beats seeing a court in operation in person. However, as a teaching device, having students watching the feed and being able to use live chat on our own platforms to add context and explanation to proceedings has been incredibly effective.”

NCTJ accreditation manager Emma Robinson praised HMCTS for its help with the initiative.

She said: We need our journalists to be skilled and confident in covering courts, so they must be given access to the courts as part of their NCTJ training.

“It is with huge thanks to the HMCTS that we have been able to put tutors in touch with relevant court managers to help secure access for their students, whether it is in person or via video link.

“The NCTJ will continue to liaise with HMCTS and the Ministry of Justice to encourage as much access for journalism students and their tutors as possible, to ensure they are sufficiently prepared for covering court cases when they begin their careers.

“The principle of open justice requires scrutiny of the courts by professional journalists, and understanding court procedures remains a key element of the NCTJ’s industry-backed Diploma in Journalism and accredited news journalism courses.”

A spokesman for the HMCTS added: “‘Having open and transparent courts where justice must not only be done, but must be seen to be done, is integral to our legal system and one way this principle is upheld is the attendance and reporting of proceedings by the media.

“So we’re pleased that we can support trainee journalists to gain an understanding of how courts work and get real experience of observing court proceedings.

“We acknowledge we have more work to do to improve media access to courts and tribunals, and we are working hard on improvements with media representatives – one initiative is the development of a publication service which aims to provide a single online source of court and tribunal hearing information for the media and others.”