Beat Reporting Research Guide

Cops and Courts

Websites

Toronto Police Service
News releases, contact names, and background information about the Toronto Police is all available on this site. The site also provides links to Toronto Fire Services and Emergency Services websites.

Special Investigations Unit
The SIU is a civilian enforcement agency that investigates incidents involving police and citizens where someone is seriously injured or killed. This website offers lots of background on the organization, as well as media contacts and press releases.

Ministry of the Attorney General of Ontario
Although this site provides information on the role of the attorney general and legal matters such as jury duty, child custody, among others, reporters will likely use it most for its listing of court addresses and phone numbers.

Ontario Courts
This website provides a listing of the names of Judges and Justices of the Peace in Ontario.

Police Contacts Regarding Fraud
Schemes, scams and frauds are unpleasant for the victims but intriguing to read about. This site offers contact information on special police units that look into all kinds of fraud.

Jurist Canada
A not-for-profit site compiled by academics and law students this website aims to provide a wide range of credible resources and coverage of developments in legal education, legal research, legal news and international law. Reporters can turn to this source for story ideas, for general current awareness or for background knowledge.

Books

Making news of police violence: comparative study of Toronto and New York City / Jeffrey Ian Ross

Courts and the media / Stuart M. Robertson

Journalism, communication and the law / G. Stuart Adam, Ed.

The journalist’s legal guide / Michael G. Crawford

Media law / Robert Martin

Newspapers and the law / by Walter Tarnopolsky … (et al.)

Robertson’s newsroom legal crisis management: what to do when a crisis hits / by Stuart M. Robertson