The co-editor of McNae’s Essential Law for Journalists has called for the local democracy reporting scheme to be extended to include court coverage.

Sian Harrison made the call at a conference held last week to discuss the future of court reporting, after a survey found reports of its demise in the local press to be “greatly exaggerated.”

The conference at Salford University was organised by journalism trainer Dr Richard Jones, who carried out the survey, and the NCTJ.

Sian, pictured, said that coverage of local courts should be on the same footing as reporting on local councils which is already covered by the BBC-funded LDR scheme.

She told the gathering: “I was a bit dismayed that [BBC director general] Tim Davie didn’t mention court reporting when he spoke recently about the expansion of the local democracy reporting scheme, because it is vital.

“It’s crucial for our democracy. It’s as important, I think, as political reporting, and there’s way too much of that, in my opinion.

“You know that, sort of like politics, has dominated a lot of the news agendas, and to the detriment of other things such as there, and I would like to see court reporting kind of on the same footing, on a level footing, with political reporting and recognised as the same kind of level of importance.”

However some regional press representativs at the conference feared that sharing court coverage with the BBC and other outlets would lead to a loss of exclusive stories.

Sian also told the gathering that while AI would enhance court reporting, it will never be able to replace it.

She said: “I don’t see that it will ever really be able to replace court reporting. I know that there are some technologies out there where they can kind of produce, like an AI can produce a court report. It’s pretty good. I’ve seen it.

“But I don’t see that as being a replacement for somebody with the human aspect, kind of going around, specifically speaking to victims, all that extra stuff, and, you know, being fully accurate, fair in everything.”

Newsquest’s Richard Duggan told the conference that using AI in other “non-contentious” content areas was freeing up time for reporters to spend covering the courts.

Meanwhile the NCTJ is to explore new ways of preparing journalists to report on family courts following the conference.

Chief executive Joanne Forbes said: “These conversations are essential to ensuring journalism training meets the needs of the industry. With access to family courts opening up, we will look at how best to prepare journalists to cover these sensitive proceedings confidently and responsibly.”