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
The Last House on the Left, the remake of a horror movie, contained a scene which showed the violent rape of a young teenage girl. The Authority did not uphold the complaint that the scene breached the good taste and decency and violence standards: the movie was screened at 10.50pm, the “narrative” context justified the rape scene, the rape scene was well signposted for viewers, and not gratuitous or designed to titillate, and there was an explicit warning for graphic and sexual violence.
Not Upheld: Good Taste and Decency, Violence
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
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
During the Fair Go Ad Awards, two teams of advertisers were asked to design advertising campaigns within the programme, to “sell us Quade Cooper for New Zealand’s next Prime Minister”. The campaigns included comments such as “everyone hates Quade Cooper”. A complaint was made that the “Hate Quade” theme was unfair and encouraged “hatred of a person”. The Authority did not uphold the complaint: the piece was intended to be light-hearted and humorous and was presented in the spirit of good-natured ribbing and team rivalry, so was not unfair, and the discrimination and denigration standard only applies to sections of the community, not to individuals.
Not Upheld: Fairness, Discrimination and Denigration
A scene from Coronation Street, broadcast at 5.30pm, showed two female characters kissing. The Authority declined to uphold the complaint that this breached standards relating to good taste and decency, responsible programming, children’s interests, and controversial issues. The scene was brief and innocuous and no less acceptable for being a kiss between two women; the content was consistent with the programme’s G rating and, given the context, was not unsuitable for children; the programme screened in an appropriate time-band; and the controversial issues standard only applies to news, current affairs and factual programmes.
Not Upheld: Good Taste and Decency, Controversial Issues, Responsible Programming, Children’s Interests
An episode of Good Morning included an interview with author and Associate Professor of Psychology Niki Harrè about her new book on the psychology of sustainability. The Authority did not uphold the complaint that a reference to Niki Harrè as a “psychologist” in a teaser for the item breached the accuracy standard: the single reference to “psychologist” in the teaser was not a material point of fact – the term was used colloquially and not intended to denote a technical meaning, and any impression it created was clarified by the item itself.
Not Upheld: Accuracy
A One News item on the National Party’s proposed asset sales policy stated that the government had refused to release information under the Official Information Act and that a subsequent complaint to the Ombudsman revealed that the government had received very little official advice regarding its claim about limiting foreign ownership. The Authority did not uphold the complaint that the item was in breach of the accuracy standard: it included comment from Prime Minister John Key and would not have misled viewers.
Not Upheld: Accuracy
A One News item about a dispute between two local councils stated that the regional council was taking the city council to court “because it says the city is polluting the Manawatu River with sewage”. An out-of-focus image of cattle grazing was displayed during the introduction to the item. The Authority declined to uphold the complaint that this breached the accuracy and discrimination and denigration standards: the image of the cattle was blurry and difficult to discern, the image was not related to the item but the item made it clear that the focus was on pollution from sewage, and farmers are not a section of the community to which the discrimination and denigration standard applies.
Not Upheld: Accuracy, Discrimination and Denigration
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