Judge jails editor over reporter’s use of recorder in court

By Bryan Anderson Associated Press

Posted July 7, 2021 12:02 PM

RALEIGH, N.C. — A North Carolina Superior Court judge put a small-town newspaper editor behind bars last month after one of his reporters used an audio recorder for note-taking purposes at a murder trial — a punishment the paper and media rights groups consider excessive. Judge Stephan Futrell sentenced Gavin Stone, the news editor of the Richmond County Daily Journal, to five days in jail before having the editor hauled off to jail. Stone was released the next day but still faces the possibility of more time in lockup …

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