McNae's essential law for journalists

After reading chapters 1-7 of McNae's essential law for journalists, I am aware of the laws affecting journalism in the areas of crime and courts. It is essential for all journalists to have general knowledge of criminal law, for accurate reporting and to avoid committing contempt to court.
What is most important for journalists to distinguish between are the three main categories of criminal offences: indictable-only, either-way and summary.

Indictable-only

• These are the most serious crimes, punishable by the longest terms. Though processed in its early court stage by a magistrates court, such a charge can only be dealt with by a Crown court. A defendant who is found guilty or pleads guilty to such a charge will be sentenced there by a judge. Crown court judges have greater sentencing power than magistrates. 

Indictable-only offences include:

• Murder
• Manslaughter
• Corporate manslaughter 
• Causing or allowing the death of a child or vulnerable adult
• Infanticide
• Aiding suicide
• Rape
• Wounding with intent/inflicting grevious body harm with intent 
• Robbery
• Aggravted burglary
• Blackmail
• Causing death by dangerous driving
• Causing death by dangerous driving whe under the influence of drink/drugs
• Perjury
• Perverting the cause of justice

Either-way

• Such charges can be dealt with either at a Crown court or at a magistrates court. In this category, a magistrates court may decide a particular case is so serious that only a Crown court can deal with it, or if a magistrates court decides it can deal with the case, the defendant may exercise his/her right to opt for a Crown court trial. Generally, either-way cases are regarded as being of lesser magnitude of criminality than indictable-only crimes.

Either-way offences include:

• Assualt occasioning actual bodily harm
• Wounding or inflicting grevious body harm
• Theft
• Handling
• Fraud
• Aggravated vehicle taking
• Dangerous driving
• Causing death by careless or inconsiderate driving

Summary

• These are considered minor offences compared to the previous two categories and likely to be relatively straight forward to deal with. Summary chargs are almost all dealth with in magistrates courts. People charged with summary offences have no right of trial but benefit from being dealth with more quickly by the magistrates than defendants who end up at Crown court.

Sumaary offences include:

• Taking a vehicle without authority
• Careless or inconsiderate driving
• Driving under the influence of drink or drugs
• Driving with excess alcohol
• Wasting police time
• Kerb-crawling

It is important journalists understand the difference between these three categories particularly because if a media organisation fails to report an offence or charge accurately, it may be sued for libel by the defendant in that case.