The Speaker of the Cook Islands parliament, Nikki Rattle, says she will not ban journalist, Rashneel Kumar, from reporting parliament.
Mr Kumar is the political editor at the Cook Islands News and had written a story about an increase in travel privileges for spouses of MPs from the outer islands.
His job has been under threat after a number of parliamentarians, including Prime Minister Henry Puna, said the story was unfair and inaccurate and called for him to be banned.
The International Federation of Journalists said such a move was disproportionate and a threat to parliamentary coverage.
Ms Rattle said there were issues with aspects of the story but she said these were attributed to the Cook Islands News editor, Jonathan Milne, and that Mr Milne had apologised.
RNZ Pacific understands the use of the word ‘demand’ when reporting on the matter was one of the issues at hand.
However Ms Rattle acknowledged the rest of the report was accurate and she could not therefore impose a ban on Mr Kumar.
