SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Yellowknifer's police and court reporter was arrested over the weekend while taking photos of RCMP activity on a downtown street and has been charged with obstructing a peace officer.

RCMP officers search a van on 49 Street on Saturday evening prior to arresting the reporter who took the photo. - John McFadden/NNSL photo

John McFadden, who has covered the RCMP and crime for the newspaper for close to a year, was arrested around 11 p.m. and held in RCMP cells for about two hours before being released. He has a Sept. 1 court date.

McFadden declined to comment about the allegation.

He has previously worked at CJCD 100.1 in Yellowknife, CBC and CityTV in Toronto. He's also worked for Sun News Network and several other radio stations in southern Ontario. RCMP spokeswoman Const. Elenore Sturko confirmed the charge against McFadden.

As is standard, she said she couldn't speak to specifics that led to the arrest.

"This is an incident which occurred with one reporter with the newspaper but we're still co-operating and working with the newspaper to bring information to the public," Sturko said. "We won't let this incident spoil our relationship with Northern News Services and it won't do harm in the way in which we bring information to the public."

Pending the outcome of the case, McFadden will no longer cover police and the court system. The newspaper's managing editor Bruce Valpy declined to comment on the allegation for this story.

It's not the first professional dispute between the reporter and RCMP in the city.

In April, independent media outlet CANADALAND reported that McFadden was barred from an RCMP news conference about a large drug bust because of his alleged 'disrespectful and unprofessional conduct' during previous interactions. Northern News Services editors, citing a lack of evidence of any unprofessional conduct, backed McFadden at the time and he continued covering crime and the courts.

We welcome your opinions. Click here to e-mail a letter to the editor.