The impact of retaining accuracy on criminal court reporters

Accuracy is an important aspect in reporting news especially when dealing with cases from criminal, civil or Syariah courts. Criminal courts are set up to hear and decide cases involving offences against criminal law while civil courts determine on disputes between individuals and companies seeking monetary damages, or other reliefs such as to stop people from taking certain action. Syariah courts has jurisdiction for persons professing the religion of Islam and handle cases on Islamic law. The researchers have chosen reporters covering criminal courts as informants because they were assigned to such courts daily on a permanent basis. Accuracy is getting it right where facts were placed in a correct manner by using the right words and putting things into the proper context. The aim of the study is to examine over accuracy,which is listed as the primary responsibility to be observed by Malaysian journalists, has any impact on print media criminal court reporters. Using a phenomenology approach, the research was conducted at the Kuala Lumpur court complex. Qualitative method was used to obtain the data. A total of 15 court reporters from the English and Malay newspaper organisations were interviewed in- depth to gather data. Findings revealed that most of the informants felt that retaining accuracy has resulted in making their job challenging. However, the results showed that the impact of retaining accuracy could be challenging, stressful or satisfactory depending on the capability of the court reporters and the expectations of their employers. Future research could be explored on the role and influence of sources, truthful reporting and value of personal image in court reporting.

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