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 report about bomb attacks at bus stops in Jerusalem breached the balance standard. The complainant alleged that the story lacked balance as the item did not include the Palestinian perspective on the ongoing tensions in Israel and Palestine. The Authority found that the standard was not breached, as this was a straightforward news item rather than a ‘discussion’ as the standard requires, and in any case, audiences can be expected to be aware of the major perspectives of this issue.

Not Upheld: Balance

The broadcast

[1]  The 24 November 2022 broadcast of Checkpoint on RNZ National included an item detailing bomb attacks at bus stops in Jerusalem. The item was introduced as follows:

Two bomb attacks at bus stops in Jerusalem have killed a teenage boy and injured 19 others. Palestinian militant group Hamas praised the explosion but stopped short of claiming responsibility. This year has seen a spate of deadly attacks targeting Israelis, triggering waves of Israeli military raids in the occupied West Bank. But the use of explosives in Jerusalem is the most significant attack in years.

[2]  The item also included the following key quotes:

Reporter:        Israeli police said they were Palestinian attacks, thought to involve devices left at the scene, potentially remotely detonated. 

                                                …

Reporter:        The far right nationalist politician, Itamar Ben-Gvir came to the scene as protesters called for revenge. With the change of Israeli government imminent. He's set to become a cabinet minister and he calls for tougher action against terrorism.  

Ben-Gvir:       Things are clear and simple to me. Taking a toll on terror means going back to targeted assassinations, stopping the parties in jails where terrorists are laughing at us. 

Reporter:        This year has seen a spate of deadly gun and knife attacks targeting Israelis with more than 20 people killed. While Israel has launched near nightly military arrest raids in the occupied West Bank, more than 130 Palestinians, gunmen and civilians have been killed this year, including last night a 16-year-old boy reportedly during armed clashes. Today's explosion marks one of the most significant attacks against Israelis in years as the country's leaders meet to discuss their response.

The complaint

[3]  Peter Ireland complained the broadcast breached the balance standard of the Code of Broadcasting Standards in New Zealand for the following key reasons:

• ‘The only mention of Palestinians was that they had not (yet?) claimed responsibility. But a politician, identified as "right-wing" was quoted saying that "terrorists" must be resisted and pursued.’
• ‘Nothing was stated by anyone there or at RNZ as to the possible reasons for this alleged terrorism. For years successive Israeli governments have pursued an internationally recognised illegal policy of furthering Israeli settlements in disputed territory, and every such settlement diminishes a rightful Palestinian hope for their own homeland.’
• ‘The Palestinians have no nuclear weapons, an air-force [or] much of a well-equipped and multi-resourced, disciplined army. Is it any wonder their desperation leads to such bombings? Their side of the story is not being told and as such constitutes a clear imbalance in RNZ's reporting.’
• ‘Easily the longest component of the Checkpoint item was the comment by the admitted right-wing politician in which he spoke of "terrorists".’
• ‘A further context for the bombing is it was becoming clear that the new Israeli government was going to be, by general agreement, the most right-wing in the history of the Israeli state, thus giving Palestinians further cause for desperate despair.’
• The situation where ‘balance is ultimately achieved outside of the boundaries of any specific broadcast, [make] nonsense of any attempt to judge the question of balance in any specific broadcast’.

The broadcaster’s response

[4]  RNZ did not uphold Ireland’s complaint for the following key reasons:

• The broadcast ‘[quoted] Hamas; who praised the attacks but stopped short of claiming responsibility, (Israeli) police; who suspect the bombers were Palestinian, and an Israeli politician calling for tougher action against terrorists.’
• While the reporter ‘did make reference to the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, it did not attempt to relate the entire history of Israeli occupation and Palestinian resistance to it, as this was not the purpose of the report and listeners/viewers can be reasonably expected to be aware of the political dynamics at play in the region through the ongoing media coverage supplied by the BBC, RNZ and other media outlets.’

The standard

[5]  The balance standard¹ ensures competing viewpoints about significant issues are presented to enable the audience to arrive at an informed and reasoned opinion.² The standard only applies to news, current affairs and factual programmes, which discuss a controversial issue of public importance.³

Our analysis

[6]  We have listened to 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.⁴

[8]  The balance standard requires reasonable efforts to be made to reflect significant perspectives when ‘controversial issues of public importance’ are discussed in news and current affairs programmes. The Authority has previously found that conflict between Israel and Palestine, including episodic instances of escalated violence or armed conflict, constituted a controversial issue of public importance.⁵

[9]  However, the broadcast must also ‘discuss’ this issue, such as through investigative or in-depth works – brief news reports may not amount to a discussion under the standard.⁶ Further, the requirement to present significant points of view is likely to be reduced where the issue is raised only in a brief way, such as straightforward news reports.⁷

[10]  In this instance, we do not consider the report amounted to a ‘discussion’ of an instance of escalated conflict between Israel and Palestine. The report was a short item focused on imparting facts about the bomb attacks, a newsworthy development in the Israel-Palestine conflict,⁸ rather than examining the conflict or speculating about the motivation behind the attacks (both areas the complainant considers should have had balancing content), or interviewing persons regarding the escalated conflict. In a breaking or developing story, these perspectives cannot be included by broadcasters in many instances. On this basis the standard did not apply.

[11]  In any event, we consider the broadcaster complied with the requirements to present significant viewpoints in the item as:

• It is well established the standard does not require equal time to be given to each significant viewpoint.⁹
• The audience can be expected to be aware of the major perspectives of the conflict in Israel and Palestine, which have been reported by the broadcaster and other outlets in the ongoing period of current interest.¹⁰ This aspect of the balance standard allows freedom of expression for broadcasters to air a variety of programmes, including by examining a particular perspective on a controversial issue.
• The item was introduced with Palestinian militant group Hamas’s perspective on the incident. It also included the following comment from the reporter: ‘Israel has launched near nightly military arrest raids in the occupied West Bank. More than 130 Palestinians, gunmen and civilians, have been killed this year, including last night a 16-year-old boy, reportedly during armed clashes’.
• Complaints must be determined based on the context at the item of the broadcast.¹¹ At the time of the broadcast, it appears this was a developing news story with little extra information available. It would be impractical to require balancing comment in these circumstances. (Although not determinative, we note it appears the culprit was not apprehended by authorities until a month later, supporting our finding there was little extra information available at the time.)¹²

[12]  Accordingly, we do not uphold this complaint.

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

Susie Staley
Chair
12 April 2023   

Appendix

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

1  Peter Ireland's formal complaint to RNZ – 24 November 2022

2  RNZ's decision on the complaint – 8 December 2022

3  Ireland's referral to the Authority – 9 January 2023

4  RNZ confirming no further comments – 1 February 2023

¹ Standard 5, Code of Broadcasting Standards in New Zealand
² Commentary, Standard 5, Code of Broadcasting Standards in New Zealand at page 14
³ Guideline 5.1
⁴ Introduction, Code of Broadcasting Standards in New Zealand at page 4
⁵ Bolot, Finlay & Gautier and Radio New Zealand Ltd, Decision No. 2013-008 at [21]; Maasland & Others and Radio New Zealand Ltd, Decision No. 2014-118
⁶ Guideline 5.1
⁷ Guideline 5.4
⁸ See Brill and Television New Zealand Ltd, Decision No. 2018-028 at [24]: ‘News items that simply report information about what may be controversial issues, for example, where there has been a newsworthy development, are not “discussions” which require balancing perspectives.’
⁹ Guideline 5.3
¹⁰ Tom Bateman and David Gritten “11 Palestinians killed by Israeli troops in Nablus” RNZ (online ed, 23 February 2023); Dr David Cumin “Opinion: The only viable, realistic path to peace for Israel, Palestinians” RNZ (online ed, 12 August 2021); Professor Richard Jackson and John Hobbs “NZ lacking principles on Israel-Palestine conflict” Newsroom (online ed, 29 August 2022); Tia Goldenberg “Israel-Palestine conflict: West Bank settler population tops half million” NZ Herald (online ed, 3 February 2023)
¹¹ Buxton and Te Aratuku Whakaata Irirangi Māori, Decision No. 2022-050 at [18]
¹² Emanuel Fabian “East Jerusalemite with Islamic State ties arrested for bombings at bus stops in city” The Times of Israel (online ed, 27 December 2022)