Two Whitehorse news reporters have had criminal charges against them dropped.

CBC Yukon radio reporter Brian Boyle and Yukon News reporter Barbara McLeod had been accused of disclosing information that identifies a young person before the courts in news coverage broadcast and published between Aug. 17 and Aug. 30, 2004, under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.

Under Canadian law, young people going through the court system cannot be identified.

The RCMP laid charges against the reporters and their respective media outlets after they received a complaint.

At the time charges were laid, Sgt. Guy Rook said the alleged violation of the act 'may have jeopardized the individual's rights to a fair trial.'

Further charges under the same section of the act were later laid against McLeod, the Yukon News, then-publisher Doug Bell and editor Peter Lesniak in relation to another article published after the first round of charges was handed out.

The charges meant McLeod was banned from writing about the court case in question.

Both Boyle and McLeod had pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The two had been scheduled for trial on March 1. Since the charges were stayed, there will be no trial.

Defence lawyer Keith Parkkari said there would have likely been little in the way of facts presented at the trial, and that it would have largely been a case of legal arguments.

Mike Linder, CBC North's regional director, said today the staying of the charges endorsed the Crown corporation's stance that it was innocent in this affair.

'Obviously, we're very pleased,' Linder said from his office in Yellowknife.

'From the outset, we maintained we did nothing wrong and I feel this shows that, in fact, this was the case.'

Yukon News publisher Steve Robertson feels the outcome was the right one.

'I'm relieved and pleased that the case has been resolved appropriately,' he said today.

No one from the Crown prosecutor's office could be reached for comment.

Jason Small contributed to this story.