Applications for court-reporting scheme open
Media regulator Coimisiún na Meán (CnaM) has opened applications for funding under schemes aimed at boosting media coverage of court hearings and local authorities across the country.
The Government is allocating €6 million to continue the schemes, as well as €4 million to a new news-reporting scheme covering “public-interest content”.
According to guidelines published today (15 August), CnaM must allocate “a minimum of 30%” of the €6 million to the courts scheme.
Details of how an additional €6 million allocated in the budget for schemes to support journalism will be announced “in due course”, according to the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport.
District and Circuit Courts
CnaM said that the first round of the court-reporting and local-democracy schemes, launched last year, had resulted in the creation of more than 100 new journalism roles.
The guidelines for the Courts Reporting Scheme say that its main purpose is to fund “comprehensive, professional, and publicly accessible reports of court proceedings at a local and regional level”.
The initiative is focused on coverage of proceedings in the District and Circuit Courts and does not apply to coverage of the higher courts.
Applications are open from today and close on Tuesday 23 September (5pm).