For justice to be done, it needs to be seen to be done

How the collapse of Scotland’s mainstream media is creating a crisis for our legal system

Scotland’s most senior judge, Lord Pentland. Pic: Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service

The recent announcement by Lord Pentland of the publication of a court reporters guide by the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service is a welcome recognition that the decline of what is now termed the ‘mainstream media’ has serious implications for the administration of justice and rule of law in this country.

Things are about to get even worse. The decline of the traditional media cannot be understated. Collapse is imminent, and the circulation figures speak for themselves, writes Graham Ogilvy.

The Scotsman now sells around 3,500 daily with 3,000 give-aways and around 4,000 digital subscribers. The Herald sells around 10,000 with a further 10,000 digital subscriptions. The once mighty Daily Record recorded ABC audited sales in February of 43,342 – down from a high of 780,000 and its sister publication the Sunday Mail is down from a high of c.850,000 to just 39,783 – and recorded an annual drop in sales of 20.3 per cent.

Scottish Legal News editor Graham Ogilvy

The Sunday Post, which famously featured in The Guinness Book of Records as the newspaper with the highest saturation circulation in the world, when its circulation topped 1.1 million, now officially sells 30,525 – last year it declined by 17.3 per cent. The Press Gazette estimates the circulation of The Guardian to be around 55,000.

Court reporters and legal affairs correspondents are an expensive luxury for these hollowed-out titles and are becoming a thing of the past. A court reporter in a Sheriff Court is today as rare as a successful appeal in the Criminal Appeal Court. (Pretty rare!)

When, in 1924, Lord Hewart pronounced that “Justice must be seen to be done” he was referring to perception rather than the act of publishing but his dictum stands today.