The Courts are Important, We Need Beat Reporters to Cover Them

The legal system is complex, it has immense power, and the public understanding of how it works is lacking because of a lack of journalists covering it as a beat.

Yes, there is plenty of coverage of sensational and capital offense crime trials.

Coverage of trials is not covering of the legal system.

One of the advantages of being a journalist in Hamilton is that I get the opportunity to chat with many people at the Jackson Square food court. We don't have an overwhelming ranges of fast lunch choices in the Downtown, and this means pretty much everyone ends up at the food court at some point.

I regularly get to chat with defense lawyers, the current strain in the legal system would surprise most citizens. Every few months, a mainstream publication reports on backlogs, lack of legal aid, and other systemic issues.

The problem is, this irregular and infrequent reporting becomes background static. We need process journalism to address systemic breakdowns in our government systems.

One day, I won't just be complaining about this problem, I will grow The Public Record and address them.