BSA Decisions Ngā Whakatau a te Mana Whanonga Kaipāho

Summary  

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

The Authority has declined to determine a complaint alleging Midday Report breached the balance, accuracy, fairness, discrimination and denigration, and law and order standards. The Authority found in all the circumstances the complaint should not be determined as it amounted to the complainant’s personal preferences regarding matters of editorial discretion.

Declined to determine (section 11(b) of the Broadcasting Act 1989, in all the circumstances): Balance, Accuracy, Fairness, Discrimination and Denigration, Law and Order

Background

[1]  Peter Mochnacki complained to RNZ about a range of concerns relating to the selection of stories relating to Māori, the use of te reo Māori, the accuracy of ‘historical items relating to Māori’ and the angle of stories relating to Māori. His concerns included:

• ‘The news hour programs are hugely unbalanced. Example today 7 Dec 12-12.30pm almost the whole period was taken up by one sided Maori stories most of which were repeats and of only minor importance.’
• ‘Most stories where Maori feature there is a non Maori minority usually in the same circumstances i.e. location, economical, health etc who are discriminated by omission therefore being labelled as non relevant citizens’.
• ‘Radio New Zealand is delving into a political show. However this broadcast is entirely of Maori viewpoints with no possibility of any balancing or contra views available’.

[2]  RNZ did not uphold the complaint, noting ‘general dissatisfaction with a programme’s style or editorial approach does not equate to a breach of the formal standards’.

Outcome: Declined to determine

[3]  Section 11(b) of the Broadcasting Act 1989 authorises the Authority to decline to determine a complaint if it considers that, in all the circumstances of the complaint, it should not be determined by the Authority.

[4]  In this case, much of the complaint is outside our jurisdiction (not being concerns raised about a particular programme as required under section 6 of the Broadcasting Act). However, to the extent the complaint can be linked to a particular programme (the 7 December 2021 Midday Report programme), the Authority considers it appropriate to exercise its s 11(b) discretion on the following grounds:

a)  The complaint relates to a matter of broadcaster editorial discretion (the subject matter and selection of news stories) and the complainant’s preferences regarding the selection of news stories. Such a complaint is not, in general, capable of being resolved by a complaints procedure because it relates to the exercise of a discretion.¹

b)  The complainant’s specified concern regarding the 7 December programme (promoting one-sided Māori stories), is not what the identified standards are designed to address.²

c)  The arguments raised by Mr Mochnacki do not directly correlate to the content of the broadcast but rather relate to material not broadcast.³

[5]  The Authority’s role is to consider complaints about content broadcast, not to direct what content should be broadcast or its format. Therefore, in all the circumstances of the complaint, it should not be determined by the Authority.

For the above reasons the Authority declines to determine the complaint under section 11(b) of the Broadcasting Act 1989.
Signed for and on behalf of the Authority

Susie Staley
Chair
16 February 2022

Appendix

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

1  Peter Mochnacki’s complaint to RNZ – 7 December 2021

2  RNZ’s response to the complaint – 24 December 2021

3  Mochnacki’s referral to the Authority – 2 January 2022

4  Mochnacki reiterating broadcast date – 14 January 2022

5  Mochnacki’s further comments – 17 January 2022

¹ Broadcasting Act 1989, s 5(c)
² In particular, the balance standard specified is not directed at biased or ‘one-sided’ material in and of itself but at the requirement to present significant alternative points of view when controversial issues of public importance are discussed (Drinnan and Radio New Zealand Ltd, Decision No. 2021-083). No such issue was identified in respect of the 7 December programme.
³ See Golden and Radio New Zealand Ltd, Decision No. ID2018-097 and Wratt and MediaWorks TV Ltd, Decision No. 2019-031