‘Press’ fined $150

Press, 9 August 1985, Page 13

‘Press’ fined $150

The Christchurch Press Company, Ltd, was fined $75 on each of two charges of breaching supression of name orders when it appeared before Judge Bisphan in the District Court yesterday. Mr G. M. Brodie, who appeared for the company, entered pleas of guilty. Mr Brodie said it was accepted by the police that on both occasions publication occurred through innocent and inadvertent errors and that there was no intention of flouting a court order.

In one case the name of the accused had been published elsewhere before an order was made. The name was published because of a regrettable misunderstanding after an-

other member of “The Press” staff telephoned the court reporter at his home. The court reporter did not tell his collegue that the name had been suppressed because he did not realise that the other reporter was going to write a news item. “The Press” was concerned that everything possible should be done to prevent the publication of names which had been suppressed and the staff had been instructed to that effect, but human errors occurred from time to time. The company expressed

its sincere regrets for the breaches, Mr Brodie said. The Judge said it was accepted that the publication of the names in both cases was totally inadvertent.