Judge scolds reporters for misleading headline

 TWO Post-Courier newspaper court reporters in Port Moresby were summoned by Waigani National Court judge Justice Panuel Mogish last Friday and given a dressing-down for a misleading headline in the newspaper.

Mogish demanded an apology from the newspaper for the blunder on its front page last Friday which read: “LAW ‘judge arrested and charged’.” 

The article was about acting Public Prosecutor Camillus Sambua’s arrest and detainment the previous day by Boroko police. 

Mogish told the court prior to the appearance at the witness dock of journalists Todagia Kelola and Joshua Arlo that it was an elementary mistake that should not have been made because the story was about a public prosecutor, not a judge. 

He said: “The headline can be subjected to a lot of interpretation and for the journalist to make such an elementary mistake suggests that he may not be on the right path – a judge is different from a public prosecutor.”

 “A journalist should never make such an obvious mistake. I think, this reporter (who made the mistake) should appear (in court now) and be given advice on how he should write his article.” 

Mogish was the judge who had dealt with an application for bail by Sambua.

“This is unacceptable,” he said, and adjourning the case for an hour for the reporters to be summoned. 

When Kelola and Arlo later appeared on the witness stand, Mogish asked them if they had seen the mistake on the front page of their newspaper. 

“Your newspaper goes all over the world. It states something that is false, on its front page. I could cite you for contempt of court; but I will not do that but let this be a lesson to you all (journalists).”