Broadcast news bulletins in recent weeks have been dominated by the conclusions of two long-running court stories - the outcome of the phone-hacking trial and the conviction of Rolf Harris.
As is usually the case, programme-makers rose admirably to the challenge of distilling months of complex evidence into comprehensive packages, encapsulating the essence of events in the courtroom over the course of both trials. Their ability to do so will have owed much to the time invested in planning for the day of the verdicts. Yet editors will also have been preoccupied in the preceding months with judging levels of on-going coverage of the cases.
This blog has discussed elsewhere the challenge of court reporting for television and radio, but broadcasters have rarely been faced with such a range of complex and lengthy legal proceedings at any one time. Phone-hacking, the Hillsborough inquests and a spate of celebrity sexual assault trials could easily have resulted, unchecked, in news bulletins becoming nothing more than daily court briefings.
Broadcast outlets have had to balance the usual considerations of the newsworthiness of events at a trial or inquest on any given day with the more complex calculation of the audience's tolerance for being told about it on a daily basis. Whilst print and on-line media are safe in the knowledge that exhaustive coverage will result only in uninterested readers turning a page, broadcasters are only too aware that disengaging their audience might cause them to change the channel.
To that end, it is perhaps unsurprising that human interest appears to be an overriding factor in a case securing a slot in the running order. Trials like that of Harris are, of course, the definition of human interest - there's the well-known face, the anticipated fall from grace and the potential for any number of startling and disturbing revelations.
The phone-hacking trial and the Hillsborough inquests are more multi-faceted cases to relay to a broadcast audience, especially on a long-term basis. There are complex, technical issues to be reported, explained and set in context, sometimes within the confines of reporting restrictions. It is telling, then, that the human interest elements which do exist within these two stories have often served to propel them to the top end of the day's news bulletins.
The revelation, for instance, of Rebekah Brooks's affair with Andy Coulson was always going to generate far more broadcast coverage than the many other equally interesting days of evidence about the machinations of life at News International. Similarly, the poignant 'pen portraits' of the Hillsborough victims, presented by their loved ones at the start of the fresh inquests, received blanket regional television coverage - it would have been impossible to cover these selectively for risk of causing understandable offence - but the more dense evidence about stadium design and matchday policing has sometimes been afforded only brief dry reads.
Of course, it would be impractical for broadcast outlets to provide comprehensive accounts of court proceedings for months at a time. Viewers and listeners would not expect it and might eventually tire of it. Different broadcasters with differing target audiences will offer varying degrees of depth and there are, in any case, other sources for those seeking the most detailed reportage. Moreover, if they choose, broadcasters can always provide this heightened level of coverage on-line.
Broadcast news has perfected an engaging and accessible style when it comes to reporting court cases, inquests and inquiries. In fact, complex material is sometimes easier digested when presented by a skilled broadcast journalist than it is by reading an article in print. The more technical aspects of the Hillsborough inquests which are being extensively reported by local radio - with its remit to super-serve the audience - are a case in point. The forthcoming inquiries into alleged child abuse will provide a further test of reporting a sprawling, pseudo-legal process.
Broadcast excels itself at the set-piece moments in legal proceedings, especially at the culmination of a case - but, perhaps, our television and radio news outlets could sometimes be that little bit braver in terms of the volume of on-going coverage which works its way into the bulletins. Flagship daily news programmes are never going to be the medium to report the minutiae of legal proceedings. Yet it would be a shame if broadcasters underestimated their audience's capacity for coverage of a lengthy legal tale - and their own ability to tell it.
