A news agency boss has warned police forces are “‘strangling the freelance court reporter into extinction” with press-release coverage of criminal cases.
According to a 2022 report, the average police force UK employs around 20 communications specialists. This means police press officers can outnumber all the full-time local news journalists employed in some regions (let alone the number covering crime).
Jon Harris, of Manchester-based Cavendish Press, fears freelance reporters covering court cases will be put out of business due to regional and national news organisations prioritising police handouts over professional reporting in their pursuit of free content.
Police press releases sent out after guilty verdicts are returned are oftened pre-written and ready to go meaning they can beat court reporters to the story. But they only offer one side of cases and may only be sent after successful prosecutions.
Cavendish accused police press officers of ”a state sponsored abuse of power” by effectively doing the job of journalists for them at the expense of independent reporting.”
Last year Luton-based South Bedfordshire News Agency, better known as Fairley’s, closed down, partially blaming police press releases for making its work covering courts as uneconomic.
The last freelance reporter covering Teesside Crown Court, Peter Holbert, retired in January 2025 and cited competition from police press offices as one of the things which had made the job untenable. He said: “They don’t report any words that have been spoken in court, they are just putting their own background in – quite often missing important things which I would regard as a form of censorship. But their stuff is free and in many cases newspapers would rather have their free stuff than pay for a report.”
Harris, who is also chairman of the National Association of Press Agencies, said: ”The police press release used to be a highly useful aide memoire for those journalists covering court – but today they are a free substitute for independent reporting.
”Court reporters have often been referred to as ‘the eyes and ears’ of a courtroom but sadly these PR releases have become so frequent and detailed, they are effectively being used as a weapon to strangle traditional court reporting into extinction.
”The problem is whilst these releases outline prosecution cases against defendants, it only gives out what the police want us to know. They rarely if ever issue details of mitigation or judges comments and instead gives the reader a one-sided and unbalanced account of what happened in court.
”If a judge accused police of misconduct or a defendant gives a detailed and sometimes heart-rending level of explanation about their behaviour it would almost certainly go unreported – meaning police would escape public scrutiny.
”In my view it’s an abuse of power by those police forces claiming to ‘serve’ journalists whilst effectively doing their job for them – and news organisations need to wake up to this fact now.”
Soon the state will decide what gets reported in court
He added: ”The freelance court reporter has already been squeezed by fees from publications not increasing in 40 years, but they now face being put out of business by a state sponsored rival.
”In the past couple of weeks our team have covered at least four cases in which they were the only reporters in court, only for a free-to-use police press release to be distributed by faceless civil servants from a police press office several miles away.
”There have been many occasions when we ask police forces for pictures of defendants as we have not been able to photograph them outside court – only for a press release from them to suddenly appear on the wires a couple of hours later. The Crown Prosecution Service is increasingly doing the same thing.
”The problem is exacerbated by news publications being addicted to free content at the expense of an independent journalist offering them fair and balanced court copy.
”They do need to think more about their product rather than their shareholders and bottom line and start paying rather than rely on free handouts. If traditional court reporters are driven from our courts, we could have a situation where the state decides what can and cannot hear from them. Ultimately it’s the public who will suffer.”
Harris added: “Unlike regional and national newspapers, all freelancers and agencies don’t have the benefit of advertising and BBC licence fee-funded contracts. We have to rely on our news sense and raw commercial endeavour to source and compile important and agenda setting stories and pictures for the benefit of readers and viewers.
“Sadly we stand little chance against these state sponsored press releases coupled with a pursuit by news organisations for free content.”
Asked to respond to these concerns, temporary Chief Constable Sam de Reya, the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for communications, said: “Information from court proceedings is an essential part of open justice and the release of some information from a case by the police is not new. There is a long history of the public being informed of cases by the media and police forces.
“Press releases from the police are no replacement for the specialised skill of a trained court reporter who has the ability to provide greater depth and stronger lines than a factual read-out from a force.
“Often the police and media work closely together during trials and we encourage collaborative working when it’s possible.
“Regional media is operating in a challenging environment and I understand there are varying news models across the country. It is important that forces work closely with the media so that we fulfil our collective responsibility to ensure the public is kept informed.”
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