Court appearance, need advice on the newspapers!

Booklover2019

Hi all any advice would be most appreciated, due in court in October and im deeply deeply anxious that it not appear in the papers. It’s not a serious crime and I’ll just be fined but it will have an irrevocable impact on my life if it becomes public knowledge in a small village.
Does anyone have any advice or information on whether it’s possible to avoid having it published and how to go about it?

colm_c

Speak to a solicitor, they will know exactly what will happen.

Also have a plan B if it is printed, don't wait until it is printed to come up with one.

Booklover2019

colm_c wrote: »

Speak to a solicitor, they will know exactly what will happen.

Also have a plan B if it is printed, don't wait until it is printed to come up with one.

Thanks Colm, I have a solicitor and he’s said that I have a fifty fifty chance that any journalists will be in court that day but no advice on how to talk to the newspaper.

I know I’ll need a plan B but still desperately hoping for plan A to work!
My immediate family know and are fine with everything, it’s general gossip and the fact that I run my own business dealing with these people daily.

antix80

Don't do the crime if you can't do the time! I think you should wrap your head around the fact it'll probably appear, that way if it doesn't all the better. You can always get the article removed from Google search results in the EU.

In my local court everything ends up in the papers. I'd a little write-up in the paper years ago nestled in the middle of an article highlighting 3 such cases. I think if there's a shaggy dog story involved it could end up being a much longer article.

Maybe you could contact the editor about purchasing a few full-page ads in exchange for some discretion. Not saying that's a good idea, just brainstorming.

Fann Linn

Tuam Herald used to have a disclaimer along the lines of, '..don't ask us not to write about your court case. We will'. Or words to that effect. It used to be printed just inside the cover page. I'm pretty sure other regional/ local papers do like wise.

harr

My local regional paper has about 3 pages of court pages it’s a dedicated section in the paper and they cover everything.... a journalist I know said it’s a major selling point for the paper.
OP I would definitely prepare for it to be printed and I am sure you will bump into other local people at the court house and all sittings are open to public.

FitzElla

Courts are all held in public (unless it involves family law or a minor) so there is nothing you can do to stop it being reported on. It really depends on the day if there is a court reporter there so you could be lucky. If your case is unusual, if the offence is more serious or if the judge makes some comment it is more likely to be reported on. The only thing I can suggest is turn up in court, be respectful, and don't stand out too much if you can.

Eric Cartman

If its a traffic or a drug offence for a tiny personal quantity i wouldnt worry about it. However if you are known in GAA circles or its anything larger there is a big chance of it being printed.

Heres Johnny

I was up for drink driving many years ago and I asked my solicitor if saying things like I was a well respected local rugby player who volunteers coaching kids etc would be a good move for leniency.
God no he said, newspapers will see the opportunity to print that some local sports star was in trouble. Sports star was pushing it now to be honest but I got his point.

suicide_circus

holy cow, a lot to be said for the anonymity of a city, bloody curtain twitchers, sounds like a nightmare! are you worried you'll lose business or just gossip? if its the latter i wouldnt worry about it it'll be old news soon enough. someone could anonymously tip the local paper off about something due to happen miles away from the courthouse around the same time as your case.....

antix80

suicide_circus wrote: »

the courthouse around the same time as your case.....

"School evacuated after terror threat"

ILoveYourVibes

Can you request a reporter not be present? I mean i know you can request it. But sometimes it will be denied it its deemed newsworthy.

Or can you request to be granted anonymity ?

Cases involving kids can be held in closed court. Not sure what your case involves.

Phileas Frog

ILoveYourVibes wrote: »

Can you request a reporter not be present? I mean i know you can request it. But sometimes it will be denied it its deemed newsworthy.

Or can you request to be granted anonymity ?

Cases involving kids can be held in closed court. Not sure what your case involves.

No
No

ILoveYourVibes

Phileas Frog wrote: »

No
No

You can apply.

Auguste Comte

ILoveYourVibes wrote: »

You can apply.

For journos to be excluded from a court case? On what basis? seeing as courts, with obvious exceptions ie family and children's courts are open to anyone.

Nothing more likely to get a journo to print your story than trying to restrict him printing your story.

OP there's nothing you can do except hope that your case is not one that makes it into the paper. Trying to do anything about it will only highlight you and make publication more likely.

ILoveYourVibes

Auguste Comte wrote: »

For journos to be excluded from a court case? On what basis?

Say if the case were to reveal a medical condition or a mental health condition or something.

It probly won't apply here. And its likely it might be rejected. Its just something the op could talk to a solicitor about.

Obviously don't talk to a journalist about anything. Don't ask them not to do anything. The less you talk to journalists the better. Try not to look like you are hiding anything. Like the case is too boring to pay attention to.

Maybe op will get lucky and there will be much more interesting cases to print and they will have no space.

popa smurf

Look they will talk about it for a week and move on to the next poor victim after that nothing to worry about that's just everyday life in a rural village in Ireland. It's the people that biy these local rags news papers I feel sorry for. Head up and move on if it's only something small.

LegacyUser

antix80 wrote: »

Don't do the crime if you can't do the time! I think you should wrap your head around the fact it'll probably appear, that way if it doesn't all the better. You can always get the article removed from Google search results in the EU.

Isn't that only after a period of time like 5 or 10 years?

splinter65

ILoveYourVibes wrote: »

You can apply.

No you can’t.

splinter65

ILoveYourVibes wrote: »

Say if the case were to reveal a medical condition or a mental health condition or something.

It probly won't apply here. And its likely it might be rejected. Its just something the op could talk to a solicitor about.

Obviously don't talk to a journalist about anything. Don't ask them not to do anything. The less you talk to journalists the better. Try not to look like you are hiding anything. Like the case is too boring to pay attention to.

Maybe op will get lucky and there will be much more interesting cases to print and they will have no space.

All you are doing here is giving the OP false hope.
Except for in camera, court cases are in public. Local newspapers make money from printing the details of local court cases because it is human nature to be nosey.
There’s every chance that the local newspaper will not be there on the day but I doubt it.
As the OP points out he’s a local business man so it’s extra juicy.
Do you not think that if there was any way to prevent a paper from reporting that SF Aongus O Snodaigh would have arranged for his son not to be pictured this week?
Best thing OP could do is tell everyone he knows that he ****ed up as everyone does in life and he got caught and he’s a court date in September.
Everyone cocks up every now and again and the only difference is that he got caught.
Make it a non story when it happens

pwurple

splinter65 wrote: »

All you are doing here is giving the OP false hope.
Except for in camera, court cases are in public. Local newspapers make money from printing the details of local court cases because it is human nature to be nosey.

It's also part of their public service responsibilities. Court cases are public because it serves to community for people to be aware of crimes that are committed. Media publishes the information for communication purposes.

Best thing OP could do is tell everyone he knows that he ****ed up as everyone does in life and he got caught and he’s a court date in September.
Everyone cocks up every now and again and the only difference is that he got caught.
Make it a non story when it happens

Excellent advice!

wiggle16

OP as I don't think there's any advice to be had that you can actually implement, I am going to lock this thread.

All you can do is hope it won't be a slow news day and if it is, weather the storm. People might talk but it will be forgotten about eventually. Best of luck.

Thread locked