BSA Decisions Ngā Whakatau a te Mana Whanonga Kaipāho

Summary  

[This summary does not form part of the decision.] 

The Authority has not upheld a complaint that a Breakfast segment breached the accuracy standard through its reporting on a study by RMIT and Monash Universities. The study found low carbohydrate diets may increase a person’s risk of developing type two diabetes by 20% because people often replace the carbohydrates with unhealthy fats. The complainant considered statements in the broadcast that low carbohydrate diets can increase the risk of developing type two diabetes were wrong and misleading; that the programme inappropriately pushed whole grains and fruit as a better choice compared to healthy fats, red meat, and dairy; and the researcher’s comments regarding the Atkins diet and the results of the study were unreliable. The Authority found the relevant statements would not have misled viewers in the context and it was reasonable for TVNZ to rely on the accuracy of the study and the researcher’s comments.

Not Upheld: Accuracy

The broadcast

[1]  During the 6 September 2024 broadcast of Breakfast, the 7.30am news bulletin featured an item concerning an Australian study on low carbohydrate diets. The item stated:

Breakfast newsreader:                     An Australian study says low carb diets may increase the risk of chronic disease. [9News correspondent] explains.

9News correspondent:                     When you’re trying to lose weight, one of the first things many of us cut is carbs, switching out breads, cakes, and pasta for more protein. But new research conducted by Monash and RMIT Universities, involving 40,000 Melburnians over 17 years, has found low carb fad diets can increase a person's risk of developing type two diabetes by 20%. The study revealed people often replaced carbohydrates with unhealthy fats, leading to weight gain and obesity, which greatly increases your risk of developing type two diabetes.

Professor Barbora de Courten:      Part of it is also that [the] Atkins diet has been marketed as that you can eat whatever you want, lots of saturated fat, bacon, a lot of red meat etc.

9News correspondent:                     Eating fewer carbohydrate foods also reduces your intake of whole grains, fruit, and dairy products, which all help to protect against type two diabetes. Around 1 in 20 Australians have diabetes, so it's something we should all be wary of.

[2]  Throughout the item, the banner at the bottom of the screen read, ‘Low carb diets may increase risk of disease’.

The complaint

[3]  Judy Anderson complained the broadcast breached the accuracy standard of the Code of Broadcasting Standards in New Zealand for the following reasons:

• The claim that low carbohydrate diets can increase a person’s risk of developing type two diabetes by 20% is ‘misleading at a material level’ and is ‘simply wrong’. Removing carbohydrates from one’s diet ‘has long been proven to put [type two diabetes] into remission’.
• The study at the centre of the segment was ‘not reliable’. The results were ‘twisted by people replacing carbs with wrong food’.
• ‘Fad’ has derogatory connotations and establishes a negative attitude towards low carbohydrate diets.
• The Atkins diet is not a ‘fad’ diet, and Barbora de Courten erroneously claimed the Atkins diet has been marketed as being able to eat whatever you want.
• The item says whole grains, fruit, and dairy help protect against type two diabetes, and pushes whole grains and fruit as a better choice compared to healthy fats, red meat, and dairy. However, this is ‘egregious misinformation’ as fruits and grains are carbohydrates which turn to glucose in the body, yet diabetics must control glucose.
• While the item may have explained the context of ‘people eating badly’, the ‘attention-grabbing headline’ (about low carb diets increasing the risk of disease) is what people will remember.

The broadcaster’s response

[4]  TVNZ did not uphold the complaint for the following reasons:

• The study spoke about the effects of low carbohydrate diets on the general population and how unhealthy fats often replaced carbohydrates in subjects’ diets, ‘causing diabetes in this general population to rise’. This was made clear in the broadcast, including using graphics.
• ‘Fad’ was used to describe certain diets which were causing health issues in the general population. Barbora de Courten specifically mentions one such controversial fad diet, the Atkins diet.
• The item cannot reasonably be described as ‘pushing’ whole grains and fruit as a better choice than healthy fats, red meat, and dairy. Instead, it was ‘a cautionary statement regarding the benefits of certain food groups which are often neglected when people reduce their intake of high-carb foods’. In any event, the notion that whole grains, fruit, and dairy products help protect against type two diabetes is supported by research from Cambridge University, Harvard University, and UCLA. It is also a common misconception that fruit is an unsuitable food for type two diabetics.
• ‘It is common knowledge that sufferers of diabetes often face complex challenges in relation to their diet, and viewers would understand that individual circumstances dictate variations in dietary requirements and recommendations. In the case of people who have diabetes, such recommendations should be made by a doctor that is aware of the individual’s particular circumstances.’
• The study was conducted by Monash and RMIT universities, which are ‘established and respected research facilities’, and had robust parameters. It was reasonable to rely on the study’s findings in the way which was done in the item.
• Nothing in the broadcast would have misinformed the audience as to the importance of type two diabetics controlling their blood glucose levels.

The standard

[5]  The purpose of the accuracy standard¹ is to protect the public from being significantly misinformed.² It states broadcasters should make reasonable efforts to ensure news, current affairs or factual content is accurate in relation to all material points of fact and does not mislead. Where a material error of fact has occurred, broadcasters should correct it within a reasonable period after they have been put on notice.

Our analysis

[6]  We have watched the broadcast and read the correspondence listed in the Appendix.

[7]  As a starting point, we considered the right to freedom of expression. It is our role to weigh up the right to freedom of expression against any harm potentially caused by the broadcast. We may only intervene when the limitation on the right to freedom of expression is demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society.³

[8]  To ‘mislead’ in the context of the accuracy standard means ‘to give another a wrong idea or impression of the facts’.⁴ 

[9]  At the outset, we note the programme (as a whole) accurately reflected the study’s findings: that some people who eat a low carbohydrate diet replace the carbohydrates with unhealthy saturated fats, which can lead to obesity and insulin resistance, thereby increasing the risk of developing type two diabetes.⁵

[10]  We appreciate the complainant’s concerns with the statement, ‘low carb fad diets can increase a person's risk of developing type two diabetes by 20%’. A similar statement was made by the 1News presenter at the start of the item and on the banner at the bottom of the screen throughout the item. If taken in isolation, those statements could give the impression they are referring to low carbohydrate diets generally, contrary to the study’s findings.

[11]  However, these statements must be viewed in the context of the broadcast as a whole.⁶ The 9News correspondent explained, ‘The study revealed people often replaced carbohydrates with unhealthy fats, leading to weight gain and obesity, which greatly increases your risk of developing type two diabetes.’ During this, background illustrative graphics showed text that read ‘unhealthy fats’ and images of fried chicken, bacon, and cheese. The report therefore did not suggest low carbohydrate diets in general increase one’s risk of developing type two diabetes, nor that all low carbohydrate diets are fads.

[12]  We do not think viewers would have been left with the impression alleged by the complainant.⁷

[13]  We also consider viewers are unlikely to interpret the item as pushing whole grains and fruit as a ‘better choice’ than healthy fats, red meat, and dairy (whether for diabetics or the rest of the community). The segment included one statement about how eating fewer carbohydrate foods reduces intake of whole grains, fruit, and dairy products which ‘help to protect against type two diabetes’ [emphasis added]. This was a statement about diabetes prevention, not diabetes management.

[14]  With regard to the complainant’s concerns about the statement that the Atkins diet had been marketed as enabling participants to eat whatever they want, this statement was made by RMIT Professor Barbora de Courten, who led the RMIT and Monash study discussed. RMIT and Monash are reputable organisations, being large established universities with well-respected research facilities for medicine and health sciences.⁸ Professor Barbora de Courten is also an authoritative expert. She holds positions at both RMIT and Monash, including as a Specialist Physician in Monash’s Department of Diabetes & Vascular Medicine.⁹

[15]  While the complainant may not agree with Prof de Courten’s comments or the results of the study, we consider it was reasonable for TVNZ to rely on the accuracy of the study and the researcher’s comments in these circumstances.¹⁰ 

[16]  Accordingly, we do not uphold the complaint.

For the above reasons the Authority does not uphold the complaint.
Signed for and on behalf of the Authority

Susie Staley
Chair
18 December 2024    

Appendix

The correspondence listed below was received and considered by the Authority when it determined this complaint:

1  Anderson’s initial complaint to TVNZ – 7 September 2024

2  TVNZ’s decision on the complaint – 3 October 2024

3  Anderson’s referral to the Authority – 8 October 2024

4  TVNZ’s further comments – 24 October 2024

5  Anderson’s further comments – 29 October 2024

6  TVNZ’s confirmation of no further comment – 21 November 2024

¹ Standard 6, Code of Broadcasting Standards in New Zealand 
² Commentary, Standard 6, Code of Broadcasting Standards in New Zealand, page 16
³ Introduction, Code of Broadcasting Standards in New Zealand, page 4
⁴ Attorney General of Samoa v TVWorks Ltd [2012] NZHC 131, [2012] NZAR 407 at [98]
⁵ Will Wright “Low-carb, high-fat diets boost diabetes risk” (6 September 2024) RMIT University <rmit.edu.au>; For a similar finding, see Daly and Radio New Zealand Ltd, Decision No. 2024-052 at [23]
⁶ For a similar finding, see Insley & Soryl and Television New Zealand Ltd, Decision No 2015-028 at [11]
⁷ As above
⁸ “ERA Outcomes” Australian Research Council <dataportal.arc.gov.au>; “School of Health and Biomedical Sciences – Research” (17 April 2019) RMIT University <rmit.edu.au>; “Diabetes” (29 May 2023) Monash University <monash.edu>
⁹ “Staff Profile – Professor Barbora de Courten” (23 March 2022) <rmit.edu.au>
¹⁰ Standard 6, Code of Broadcasting Standards in New Zealand and Guideline 6.3