Campbell Live featured a story about a tenant whose family allegedly suffered health problems as a result of living on a property that contained traces of methamphetamine. The Authority upheld the complaint that the item breached the accuracy and fairness standards: it overstated evidence, creating the impression that a ‘P’ lab had existed when the contamination was marginal and could have been caused by smoking, and it failed to include a report which found no trace of methamphetamine. The misleading impression as to the source, location and quantity of methamphetamine contamination, as well as the implication the complainant had done nothing to remediate the problem, resulted in an unfairly negative representation of the complainant, and the complainant’s comments as included were insufficient to counterbalance the damaging implications made about him. The Authority did not uphold the complaint about discrimination and denigration, as the standard does not apply to individuals. The Authority ordered TV3 to pay $1,400 towards the complainant’s legal costs.
Upheld: Accuracy, Fairness
Not Upheld: Discrimination and Denigration
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Order: $1,400 costs to complainant
An episode of Embarrassing Bodies, a reality television series about the treatment of embarrassing medical conditions, was broadcast on TV2 at 8.30pm and included close-up shots of women’s vaginas and of surgical operations being performed on them. The Authority did not uphold the complaint that the programme breached standards relating to good taste and decency, responsible programming and children’s interests: the programme had educational value and the nudity was non-sexual and matter-of-fact; the programme was correctly classified AO and preceded by an adequate warning for nudity and medical scenes; and the clear warning and signposting of likely content gave parents an opportunity to exercise discretion.
Not Upheld: Good Taste and Decency, Responsible Programming, Children’s Interests
A TV One documentary entitled A Rotten Shame investigated New Zealand’s leaky homes crisis and sought to expose systematic failures in the building industry that had led to the crisis. The presenter door-stepped a building inspector responsible for inspecting a house eleven years earlier, which had since developed serious problems and had to be demolished. A portion of this interview was included in the programme. The building inspector complained that this breached the controversial issues, accuracy and fairness standards. The Authority held that the action taken by the broadcaster in upholding the door-stepping aspect of the fairness complaint was insufficient. The Authority did not uphold any other part of the complaint: the item focused on systematic failures which led to the leaky homes crisis rather than on the complainant, it included the complainant’s viewpoint, and it did not create a misleading impression about the complainant’s culpability. The Authority ordered TVNZ to pay $500 towards the complainant’s legal costs.
Upheld: Fairness (Action Taken)
Not Upheld: Controversial Issues, Accuracy, Fairness
Order: $500 costs to complainant
During the Leighton Smith Show on Newstalk ZB, the host discussed verdicts in the Urewera Four case. The complainant phoned the programme and the host subsequently made comments about “nut bars” in New Zealand. The Authority did not uphold the complaint that this breached the discrimination and denigration standard: the standard only applies to sections of the community and not to individuals; it was unclear which section of the community the complainant considered was denigrated or discriminated against; and the host’s comments were clearly his personal opinion and were not specifically directed at the complainant.
Not Upheld: Discrimination and Denigration
An item on Campbell Live, broadcast on TV3 at 7pm, reported on bullying and fighting at Massey High School and showed repeated footage of girls fighting. It was not preceded by a warning. The Authority did not uphold complaints that the item breached standards relating to privacy, accuracy, fairness, responsible programming, children’s interests, and violence. The students shown in the footage were not identifiable to anyone beyond those who already knew about the fighting; the impression created about fighting and bullying at Massey stemmed from the facts of the incident and the response of students and parents; Massey was provided with a reasonable opportunity to comment and its statement was adequately referred to in the item; and while a warning would have been helpful, given the nature and context of the footage the broadcaster adequately considered children’s interests in broadcasting the footage during a current affairs programme at 7pm.
Not Upheld: Privacy, Accuracy, Fairness, Responsible Programming, Children’s Interests, Violence
The Rock radio station ran a promotion called “Win a Divorce” which culminated in a broadcast on Valentine’s Day during Robert and Jono’s Drive Show. The Authority did not uphold the complaint that the broadcast breached standards relating to good taste and decency, privacy, fairness and responsible programming since the concept of promoting an on-air request for divorce was not reflected in the actual broadcast: it turned out that the two participants had planned to subvert the broadcast from the beginning as a protest against the promotion and they spent the time berating the hosts.
Not Upheld: Good Taste and Decency, Privacy, Fairness, Responsible Programming
During Robert & Jono’s Drive Show, broadcast on The Rock, one of the hosts told a personal anecdote about a man with Down Syndrome who fell off a swing and hurt himself; the host used the term “mental” several times to refer to people with intellectual disabilities. The Authority did not uphold the complaint that this breached standards relating to good taste and decency, discrimination and denigration, and fairness: the story was conveyed in a light-hearted manner and the term “mental” was used without malice or invective; the co-host made mitigating comments and the host also made comments that were positive towards people with intellectual disabilities; and the man referred to was not “exploited” or “humiliated”.
Not Upheld: Good Taste and Decency, Fairness, Discrimination and Denigration
An item on 3 News, on the likely ban of guided heli-hunting on conservation land, contained file footage of commercial deer recovery that showed hunters shooting at deer from helicopters. The Authority upheld the complaint that this gave a misleading impression and breached the accuracy standard: commercial hunting is a completely different industry from guided heli-hunting and the footage should have been explained to ensure that viewers understood it related to commercial hunting. The Authority declined to uphold the fairness complaint on the grounds that the commercial hunting industry was not an “organisation” for the purposes of the standard. The Authority made no order.
Upheld: Accuracy
Not Upheld: Fairness
No Order
C4 broadcast a programme called LMFAO Video Hits at 7pm, which included the music video for LMFAO’s song “Shots”. A complaint was made that the video contained coarse and sexually explicit language and liquor promotion. Given the dominance of liquor promotion in the video and the sexual messages conveyed, and the screening of the video during children’s viewing times, the Authority upheld the complaints about liquor promotion and children’s interests. (The issues of good taste and decency and responsible programming were subsumed into consideration of liquor and children’s interests.) The Authority declined to uphold the complaint about discrimination and denigration: while the song did refer to women, it did not carry the invective necessary to encourage denigration of women as a section of the community. The Authority made no order.
Upheld: Children’s Interests, Liquor
Not Upheld: Discrimination and Denigration
Subsumed: Good Taste and Decency, Responsible Programming
No Order
A promo for Bad Santa, screened during the family Christmas movie The Santa Clause 2, contained brief shots of “Bad Santa” smoking and throwing a rock at a car windshield; he told a child sitting on his knee that he “loved a woman who wasn’t clean” and when asked if that was Mrs Santa replied, “No, it was her sister.” The Authority did not uphold the complaint that this breached standards relating to good taste and decency and children’s interests: most viewers would not have been offended by the promo when broadcast in this context, the sexual references were implied and would have gone over the heads of younger viewers, and the promo was correctly rated PGR.
Not Upheld: Good Taste and Decency, Children’s Interests