Canada

CANADA The previous two IAPA assemblies heard of the prosecution of a television reporter, Douglas Small, who was charged for reading on-air a portion of a budget document that came into his possession. Part way through the trial the judge ruled that the prosecution of Mr. Small was an "abuse of process" by aggressive police officers and Crown attorneys. The judge ordered the case halted because it was "offensive to the principles of fundamental justice and fair play." The judge praised Mr. Small's conduct, saying that he may have prevented "real mischief" by publicizing the budget leak before anyone could take advantage of their own leaked copy of the budget. Eduardo Uruena, the publisher of El Popular of Toronto, Canada, a Spanish-language daily, expressed concern over attacks and threats against reporters, photographers and camera crews of El Popular and the Telelatino television network. In the most recent incident, El Popular reporter Juan Orellana and a cameraman for Telelatino were beaten while covering a soccer game and later received death threats. Uruefia has called upon the authorities in Toronto to take a more serious approach to attacks on the Spanish-language press. He said that there was a disturbing tendency to dismiss them as "disagreements among ethnic communities."