4 days ago
Apology to Lucie Pagé
City Press published a story on 24 December 2024 written by Gillian Schutte, titled ' Lucie Pagé, Canadian journalist and wife to Jay Naidoo, charged with assault ' , and a follow up written by Mduduzi Nonyane on 30 December 2024, headlined ' The victim of alleged assault by Jay Naidoo's wife fears for her life ' [LINK].
Lucie Pagé subsequently complained to the Press Ombud that, amongst others, the articles were false, in violation of the Press Code, portrayed her as a violent person, did not reflect her version of events and that she was not afforded enough time to respond before publication.
Ten of those complaints were dismissed by Deputy Press Ombud Tyrone August as being without merit. However, he ruled that City Press was in breach of Clause 2.1of the Press Code for failing to disclose that Schutte, the author of the first article, is also a resident of the estate where Pagé lives and held strong views on various matters at the estate in which Pagé is involved.
Schutte was therefore potentially conflicted to write the story objectively.
City Press was also found in breach of Clause 1.8 of the code as Pagé was given an unreasonable time frame within which to respond to the request for comment.
City Press apologises to Pagé. See the updated story that includes her version.
