Legal Reporting

Week 8, May 3: Legal Reporting and Television News

Doreen Weisenhaus — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 04:54:15 +0000

Dr Yan Mei-ning, who teaches media law and ethics and broadcasting at HK Baptist University, will be our guest speaker. She has worked for more than 10 years as a reporter, producer and sub-editor for various media organizations in Hong Kong, including TVB and Cable TV. See ”readings” for what you need to look at before class. In particular, refer to the UK report on broadcasting and the courts. We will meet at 10 am in Eliot Hall, Room 101.

Also, your final assignment is due, but if you’d like more time, I can accept them by Monday, May 7, with no penalty.

Week 7, April 26: Legal research

Doreen Weisenhaus — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 04:53:59 +0000

We will be meeting in Digital Media Lab, Eliot Hall, at 10 am for our session on legal research conducted by Gibson Li (Westlaw trainer and solicitor) and Irene Shieh (law librarian, HKU Faculty of Law). Please make sure to read “Searching for public records of courts,” which I already handed out to you.

Week 6, April 19: The Legal Beat

Doreen Weisenhaus — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 08:44:20 +0000

Cliff and I will talk about how to mine the legal beat. We’ve posted articles we will refer to in “Readings.” We’ll meet in Eliot Hall 101 at 10 am.

Week 5, April 12: Covering the high-profile story

Doreen Weisenhaus — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 19:06:56 +0000

Albert Wong of SCMP will talk about some of the biggest legal stories he covered when he was courts reporter for The Standard, including the Nancy Kissel murder trial and the Nina Wang will dispute. Class will start at 9:30 am. See stories in “Readings”

Week 4, April 3: Visit to the High Court

Doreen Weisenhaus — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 22:31:52 +0000

We will meet at 6:30 pm at the lobby of the High Court, 38 Queensway. For bio and case background for Justice Michael Hartmann, please refer to the Media Law course website. Your assignment: write a news story based on Hartmann’s talk.

Week 3, March 27: Visit to Eastern Magistrates Court

Doreen Weisenhaus — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 08:02:46 +0000

We will meet at 9 AM sharp at Eastern Magistrates Court, 29 Tai On Street, Sai Wan Ho. There is a reception counter on the ground floor just inside the doors. We will meet a clerk named Edith, who will take us to Court 1, on the 6th floor. Principal Magistrate Gary Tallentire will preside and will be expecting us. So, check on the court website tonight for details of some of the cases we will hear.

http://www.judiciary.gov.hk/en/crt_lists/daily_caulist.htm

Also, at some point we will also go check the charge sheets at the office on the 7th floor.

Bring a pad and pen and be prepared for quick-fire, sometimes rather chaotic, proceedings. Hearings are likely to be brief. If you hear a case number called out, it is worth jotting it down as this sometimes helps link what we hear to anything which may be on the charge sheet.

Class 2: March 20

Doreen Weisenhaus — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 08:00:09 +0000

We have switched to Eliot Hall 101.

Coroner’s Inquest Coverage

Doreen Weisenhaus — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 00:01:50 +0000

Some of you have started attending the Coroner’s inquest today. I’ve set up a password-protected blog on the left to include your brief account of today’s proceedings.
Please be prepared to write something in a style of a news story. The only difference is that you can include additional observations and information that normally would not go into a news story, including what will happen in future days. Assign different parts of the hearing for each member of your reporting team. so for example, you may want to each take a different witness if there are several witnesses that day. Or one person does a summary of that session while the others do sidebars focusing on a key piece of testimony. Someone can even do a news feature. But everyone should write something.

Today’s expected witnesses will be from the Hospital where the shot security guard was declared dead, a pathologist, a chemist and a forensic officer who lifted a shoeprint from the scene.

Also, a student notified me that it’s difficult to hear in the Digital Media Lab for lectures so I am setting up alternative arrangements for those class days we’re not writing or otherwise need the computer. Will send out a notice.

Have fun!