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CHIEF Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry yesterday banned two Stabroek News reporters from her courtroom after an inaccurate sentence was carried in an article published on Thursday, February 14. The magistrate said, before they can resume reporting from her court, an editor must first accompany them.
This is the second time representatives of the newspaper have been excluded for the same reason.
On February 14, Stabroek News published a story under the headline ‘Trafficking charge dismissed against Canada-based woman’.
The magistrate referred to a particular sentence in the publication which stated: “She further stated that CANU officers did not launch a search for the man named Alex whom Seepaul said gave her the package for his friend”.
In an effort to clarify the issue with the two Stabroek News reporters, the magistrate called them up in court and asked where they got that information.
Responding, one of the reporters said she heard it in court and reported it in her story.
However, the magistrate admonished the Stabroek News reporters that they could not have heard her saying that because she did not.
The Chief Magistrate said she questioned her staff and even other reporters who were in court and they all said she never said what was reported in the Stabroek News.
The magistrate added that, in making a ruling on the drug trafficking case involving Bhagwantie Seepaul, she mentioned that Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) reported they could not locate the other person named ‘Alex’ from whom Seepaul collected the package.
The notes
The magistrate then asked to see the notes the reporter made while she was in court but the latter could not provide the note pad in which she wrote.
The reporter remained silent when the magistrate told her that she did not see her writing while the case was ongoing.
The magistrate also said she, repeatedly, has to talk to the Stabroek News reporters about carrying incorrect stories.
She said it is impossible for her to call every member of the public in court and tell them that the report was wrong and that she did not say what Stabroek News reported.
“This seems to be a recurring problem and I think you should bring your editor back with you before you come back into this courtroom,” the magistrate said.
Only recently another reporter of the same newspaper was banned for reporting inaccurately on an in camera case involving a 17 year-old girl.
This is the second time representatives of the newspaper have been excluded for the same reason.
On February 14, Stabroek News published a story under the headline ‘Trafficking charge dismissed against Canada-based woman’.
The magistrate referred to a particular sentence in the publication which stated: “She further stated that CANU officers did not launch a search for the man named Alex whom Seepaul said gave her the package for his friend”.
In an effort to clarify the issue with the two Stabroek News reporters, the magistrate called them up in court and asked where they got that information.
Responding, one of the reporters said she heard it in court and reported it in her story.
However, the magistrate admonished the Stabroek News reporters that they could not have heard her saying that because she did not.
The Chief Magistrate said she questioned her staff and even other reporters who were in court and they all said she never said what was reported in the Stabroek News.
The magistrate added that, in making a ruling on the drug trafficking case involving Bhagwantie Seepaul, she mentioned that Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) reported they could not locate the other person named ‘Alex’ from whom Seepaul collected the package.
The notes
The magistrate then asked to see the notes the reporter made while she was in court but the latter could not provide the note pad in which she wrote.
The reporter remained silent when the magistrate told her that she did not see her writing while the case was ongoing.
The magistrate also said she, repeatedly, has to talk to the Stabroek News reporters about carrying incorrect stories.
She said it is impossible for her to call every member of the public in court and tell them that the report was wrong and that she did not say what Stabroek News reported.
“This seems to be a recurring problem and I think you should bring your editor back with you before you come back into this courtroom,” the magistrate said.
Only recently another reporter of the same newspaper was banned for reporting inaccurately on an in camera case involving a 17 year-old girl.
