Jonathan Heawood, Executive Director of PINF, explains the rationale for dedicated Coroners’ Court Reporters to restore accountability, strengthen local journalism and help prevent avoidable deaths.
Over the last few months, PINF has heard from several people who are deeply concerned about the state of coroners’ courts. These arcane institutions are responsible for handling some of the most important – and sensitive – issues in our society: investigations into unnatural, violent and unexplained deaths.
In the heyday of local news, when many towns were served by multiple local newspapers, there were more than enough reporters to cover every case in every coroner’s court. These stories achieved several purposes, from the high-minded – holding coroners accountable for their investigations – to the commercial – providing salacious headlines for the evening newsstands.
Now, as regional newspaper groups continue to cut editorial staff, there aren’t enough reporters to go around, and coroners’ courts don’t get the coverage they deserve.
So, we had a brilliant idea: we’ve got Local Democracy Reporters, so why don’t we have Coroners’ Court Reporters, working to provide specialist year-round coverage of these vital institutions?
Unfortunately, this idea doesn’t quite fit into our current strategy at PINF, so we are giving it to the world. For free. If you’d like to see our draft project plan, drop us a line. We would love to see someone bring this idea to life – because it could, quite literally, save lives.
There are 77 coroner areas in England and Wales. Under the Coroners (Investigations) Regulations 2013, all coroners are legally obliged to issue Prevention of Future Death (PFD) reports to people or organisations who should take action to prevent future deaths. Anyone who receives a PFD report is legally obliged to respond within a set period.
Academics and campaigners have expressed concerns that PFD reports are not taken seriously or acted upon, and as a result, future deaths are not being prevented. In other words, people are dying unnecessarily.
The lack of specialist local reporting on coroners’ courts must be exacerbating this appalling situation. Without expert and ongoing coverage of coroners’ courts and PFD reports, there is no monitoring of whether and how PFD reports are acted upon and therefore no accountability for the outcomes of these reports.
Dedicated Coroners’ Court Reporters could reverse this trend and help to ensure accountability for avoidable deaths whilst also reminding local communities of the value of local news.
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