Week Nine: “Order!”, “Order!” My big day in court

Going into court was a huge learning experience. I had decided to take the day off uni to go into court (committed student) and was lucky enough to catch the tail end of a news bulletin of Mercedes Corby taking Channel Seven to court for a defamation hearing. I jumped on Google and found out that the case was taking place in the Supreme Court and would continue tomorrow. I’d struck gold.

Once I had made my way into the city I had to find the court. Sounds easy enough. Turning around from heading in the wrong direction, I saw a man dressed in the full black robe and white wig and thought he’d be a safe bet to follow. Having located courtroom 10E and experiencing catching a lift with judges, journalists and lawyers, I learned all about bowing to the Judge whenever you enter and leave the courtroom. I realised immediately that my notebook was all wrong and felt like it was written all across my face that I was a student and was totally out of my element. The journalists all had small notepads and I made a mental note to buy one the same.

It was such a surreal experience. Mercedes Corby was sitting to my left and Anna Coren was in front of me. There was a real life judge and jury and the stenographers fascinated me. I learnt that you can only report what is said in court in front of the jury, and that once a photo is tendered as evidence it is made available to the media in the press gallery which can be used to compliment your story.

Coming home on the train that evening I felt so proud of myself. Writing the story however was a whole other issue. Overwhelmed with information and details, pulling out the most important parts was challenging, yet the controversial allegations against Ms Corby seemed to leap off the page immediately. I had my lead. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. I liked not having to think of a story idea, or chasing up interviews and momentarily considered court reporting as a career path. I came to the conclusion that it would be a very solitary existence, but one hell of a day out.