Three cases, three wins for a court reporter
A GLASGOW court reporter with an impressive NUJ pedigree is waging a one-woman war on court reporting restrictions and has just notched up her third victory.
Fiona Davidson learned her trade at a news agency run by her father, George Findlay, who represented freelances on the NUJ national executive for years and was President of the union in 1984-85.
George Findlay died in 1993. Findlay’s News Agency was wound up three years later and Fiona Davidson became a freelance court reporter. Now she specialises in covering the Employment Tribunal in Glasgow, where she not only reports the union’s numerous successes in defending members in Scotland but has had her own successes as well.
In August the Court of Session ruled in favour of the press in Fiona Davidson’s appeal against a gagging order in a sexual harassment case. The restricted reporting order banning publication of the names of all parties was imposed at the start of the case, which was against a solicitor, in 2006.
The complainant withdrew her claim and Fiona Davidson requested that the order should now be revoked, which it was, but the law firm appealed, and the Employment Appeal Tribunal ruled that the press had no right to be heard by the tribunal and the order must remain in force.
The NUJ backed Fiona Davidson’s appeal to the Inner House of the Court of Session, where a three-judge bench accepted the union’s argument that there should be no interference with the right to publish what goes on in a court. Journalists have a right to be heard, the court said, and the tribunal rules should be changed to allow the press to challenge a restricted reporting order.
This was a real triumph for press freedom – apart from the fact that the court also ruled, strangely, that since the case was over, the order could no longer be lifted, so the identity of the solicitor and the complainant must remain secret for ever.
Fiona Davidson’s other victories have been less momentous but more clear-cut. In 2004 a restricted reporting order was revoked on her application after a case involving allegations of sexual misconduct was settled, and in 2008 she took action again in a case brought by a call centre worker claiming he had been subjected to racial and religious discrimination.
The claimant won the case but the company, owned by a subsidiary of Murray International Holdings Ltd, of which Rangers FC’s former chairman David Murray is chairman, tried to have the judgement censored by removing the names of clients that had been identified in the hearing.
Fiona Davidson objected with the support of the NUJ. A hearing date was set to hear the arguments but the company withdrew its application and the full judgement was published.
She works closely with the NUJ’s Glasgow office and national organiser Paul Holleran and has had official union support for all her cases. She says: “I feel it is important for journalists to oppose any interference with press freedom at every opportunity. Any restrictions on reporting must be justifiable for compelling reasons and not simply because information may be embarrassing.
“These cases show that the NUJ is willing to intervene and support members when required, reinforcing the case for union membership. That’s what belonging to a union is all about.”