Publications
Publications
On this page:
To order any of the publications below, please write to the Broadcasting Standards Authority. Contact details.
Annual Report 2008/09
November 2009
For the year ended 30 June 2009
Download (396kb PDF)
Older annual reports:
For the year ended June 2008 Download (604kb PDF)
For the year ended June 2007 Download (1.4mb PDF)
For the year ended June 2006 Download (2mb PDF)
For the year ended June 2005 Download (3.7mb PDF)
For the year ended June 2004 Download (2mb PDF)
Statement of Intent 2010-2013
July
2010
Download (198kb PDF)
Statement of Intent 2009-2012
July
2009
Download (560kb PDF)
Statement of Intent 2008-2011
July
2008
Download (195kb PDF)
Statement of Intent 2007-2010
July 2007
Download (565kb PDF)
Statement of Intent 2006-2009
June 2006
Download (670kb PDF)
Research reports
Children’s Interests: A Review of Broadcasting Standards Authority Child Complaints Decisions
May 2010
The Broadcasting Standards Authority (BSA) has today published Children’s Interests: A Review of Broadcasting Standards Authority Child Complaints Decisions 1999-2009.
To ensure that its decision making is robust and relevant, the BSA regularly commissions critiques of its decisions. Most recently it published an assessment of its privacy related decisions.
The new paper examines BSA decisions on complaints lodged regarding children as viewers of, and participants in, television broadcasts.
The paper was authored by Dr Sue Jackson of Victoria University, Wellington. Dr Jackson is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Psychology and has a special research interest in issues pertaining to young people.
The BSA hopes that the questions raised in the report will prompt renewed consideration by broadcasters and the public about how we can best protect children in relation to broadcasting standards matters. Read the Report
What Not to Swear: The Acceptability of Words in Broadcasting
The findings of a national survey designed to measure how acceptable the public finds the use of swear words, blasphemies and other expletives in broadcasting. The survey was carried out among 1500 members of the general public aged 18 and over. A total of 31 words were presented to respondents across 10 different contexts. Results are compared to similar surveys carried out in 2005 and 1999. The key chart that ranks words in terms of unacceptability can be found on p14 of the full report or can be downloaded as a separate document.
Warning: this report contains offensive language.
Read the Full Report
Download the key chart (compares 2009, 2005 and 1999 findings)
Some Content May Offend: Public Attitudes to Content Classifications and Warnings on Free-To-Air and Pay TV
Published February 2010.
An investigation of the public's understanding of classifications and warnings on both free-to-air and pay television. The report's findings are based on focus group sessions held in Auckland with 88 people, mainly parents and guardians of children aged between five and 17. Parents and guardians were chosen because this group makes the most use of classifications and warnings to decide what their families will watch.Read the Report
Private Matters: A Review of the Privacy Decisions of the BSA
The BSA has released a new paper designed to prompt a discussion of privacy. Private Matters: A Review of the Privacy Decisions of the BSA has been authored by Dr Nicole Moreham, a Senior Lecturer at Victoria University in Wellington. Dr Moreham has a special interest in media law and in particular, privacy. The paper is an assessment of a range of privacy-related decisions made by the BSA and examines the key issues to emerge from these decisions. Read the Report
Principles and Pragmatism
Today the Broadcasting Standards Authority released a new report entitled Principles and Pragmatism.
Authored by Colin Peacock, host of Radio New Zealand's Mediawatch programme, the report is an assessment of BSA decisions from a journalist's perspective.
The report addresses the following questions:
- Where is the tension between the 'bottom-line standards' for the Authority and the 'bottom-line standards' for journalists?
- What is the Authority getting right from journalists' perspective - and what is it getting wrong?
Download Journalist's Assessment of BSA Decisions - Full (967kb PDF)
Download Journalist's Assessment of BSA Decisions - Exec Summary (832kb PDF)
Please note: these documents are designed to be printed doubled sided.
A limited number of printed copies of the report are available. Please contact Trish: trishc@bsa.govt.nz
Maori Worldviews and Broadcasting Standards: What Should be the Relationship?
The BSA has released new paper entitled Maori Worldviews and Broadcasting Standards: What Should be the Relationship? in order to provide a platform for discussion of the relationship between broadcasting standards and Maori worldviews and interests.
This paper follows up some questions raised by the BSA's 2005 publication The Portrayal of Maori and Te Ao Maori in Broadcasting: the foreshore and seabed issue, including
whether the standards as currently framed adequately reflect Maori realities, concerns and interests.
By setting out the present context for the BSA's work and outlining the decisions the BSA has made on issues of particular concern to Maori, the BSA hopes to provide a ready resource for everyone who is interested in that discussion.Read the Report
Viewing Violence: Audience Perceptions of Violent Content in Audio Visual Entertainment.
November 2008
The Office of Film and Literature Classification and the Broadcasting Standards Authority have jointly issued a research report, Viewing Violence: Audience Perceptions of Violent Content in Audio Visual Entertainment.
The research adds to knowledge gained over the years updating our agencies with New Zealanders' thoughts and feelings about violent content in audio-visual entertainment on TV, in films and DVDs, and on internet and mobile platforms.Read the Report
Seen and Heard: Children’s Media Use, Exposure, and Response
May 2008
This report updates information collected for a 2001 study by the BSA, The Younger Audience, and takes into account the significant changes that have taken place in how children use traditional and new media. Read the Report
Balancing Act: A review of the balance provision in the New Zealand broadcasting standards
by Martin Hirst
October 2007
The BSA asked Associate Professor Martin Hirst of The School of Communication Studies, Auckland University of Technology, to consider a number of questions about the “balance“ standard in the codes of broadcasting practice for radio, free to air television and pay television. Download the full report.
Children’s Media Use and Responses: a review of the literature
July 2007
The BSA commissioned researchers from Victoria University of Wellington and Massey University to conduct a review of recent international and New Zealand research examining children’s media use and responses. Download the full report (421KB)
Media Literacy Information in New Zealand: a comparative assessment of current data in relation to adults
July 2007
Researchers from Massey University’s Department of Communication and Journalism conducted a comparative assessment of international and New Zealand information about the media literacy of adults. Media literacy is defined (by the UK Office of Communications, OFCOM) as ‘The ability to access, understand and create communications in a variety of contexts’. Download the full report (558KB)
Assessment of BSA decisions
April 2006
Professor John Burrows of the University of Canterbury School of Law conducted an assessment of the decisions of the Broadcasting Standards Authority released during 2005.
Download pdf of the report (190kb)
Broadcaster satisfaction survey
December 2006
In October 2006 ACNielsen conducted a survey of broadcasters. The objective of the research was to determine the level of satisfaction broadcasters have with the complaints process. Read a summary of the report.
Significant Viewpoints: broadcasters discuss balance
November 2006
(Print copy available free of charge)
In May 2006, the BSA held a symposium with many of New Zealand’s leading broadcast news executives, media academics, and programme makers, to discuss the balance standard in the broadcasting codes of practice.
Order book (free), or download PDF version (320kb).
Issues facing broadcast content regulation
November 2006
In our 2006 Statement of Intent, the BSA posed this question: in the face of complex technological developments, what restraints on the distribution of electronic media content are desired by New Zealanders in the 21st century? A commissioned research paper looks at international options for and developments in broadcast content regulation models. The authors, media specialists Andrea Millwood-Hargrave and Andrew Stirling from the United Kingdom, and Paul Norris and Geoff Lealand from New Zealand, look at 13 countries and pose questions for New Zealanders to consider.
Download Issues facing broadcast content regulation (PDF - 1.4mb) and Appendix (PDF - 3.6mb).
The Future of Media Regulation in NZ: Is There One?
May 2006
The BSA asked web expert Russell Brown and media lawyer Steven Price to think about how technology developments will affect New Zealand’s regulatory framework. Is content regulation viable in the digital world? Read intro or download now (53 pages, 680kb, PDF)
Freedoms and Fetters: broadcasting standards in New Zealand
23 May 2006
$19.95 for print copy
This study focuses on two major types of broadcasting standard: the journalistic standards of balance and fairness in their application to factual programming, and good taste and decency, a standard that is applicable generally. Read the Executive Summary (Māori version) or download the full report as a PDF (1.6mb).
Portrayal of Māori and Te Ao Māori in Broadcasting: the foreshore and seabed issue
December 2005
(Print copy available free of charge)
A book by The Media Research Team, Te Kawa a Māui, Victoria University of Wellington
Download (180 pages, 1.02mb PDF)
Findings of a complainants’ survey
21 October 2004
In April this year, Colmar Brunton was commissioned to research the fairness and effectiveness of the BSA’s processes from the complainant’s perspective. Download the report of their findings (PDF 1.25MB).
Real Media Real People - Privacy and informed consent in broadcasting
July 2004
$ 19.95
Written by Wiebe Zwaga, Michael Stace and Colmar Brunton
More about Real Media Real People
Privacy: Interpreting the Broadcasting Standards Authority’s Decisions January 1990 to June 1998.
November 1998.
$ 19.95
Written by Michael Stace,
Monitoring Community Attitudes in Changing Mediascapes
April 2000
$ 19.95
Written by Garry Dickinson, Michael Hill and Wiebe Zwaga.
The Younger Audience: Children and Broadcasting in New Zealand
May 2001.
$ 19.95
Written by Reece Walters and Wiebe Zwaga.
Attitudes Towards Good Taste and Decency in Broadcasting Among Maori
2001.
(Free)
Attitudes Towards Good Taste and Decency in Broadcasting Among Pacific Peoples
2001.
(Free)