Promo for Glee. Male character in a wheelchair said, “I want to be very clear, I still have the use of my penis”. Not upheld (good taste and decency).
Martin Crump Late Night Live. Stand-in host encouraged running over possums. Not upheld (good taste and decency, law and order, and fairness).
Willie and JT. Hosts joked that Prime Minister had polio. Not upheld (good taste and decency).
7 Days. Allegedly offensive language. Not upheld (good taste and decency).
Promo for Castle. Contained comments, “a big time slugger gets whacked”, and “someone used his head for batting practice”. Not upheld (children’s interests).
Newstalk ZB. Host used the phrase “whack-job Christians”. Not upheld (discrimination and denigration).
In the first 10 minutes of an episode of Outrageous Fortune, broadcast at 8.30pm, the characters used frequent coarse and obscene language. The Authority upheld that this breached standards of good taste and decency, responsible programming, and children’s interests: the frequent coarse language before 8.40pm was unacceptable in context, despite the AO classification and the expectations of regular viewers; obscenities in the first 10 minutes of the programme constituted strong adult material broadcast too close to the 8.30pm watershed; and the material warranted an AO 9.30pm classification and later time of broadcast. The Authority held that the action taken by the broadcaster in relation to one aspect of the good taste and decency and children’s interests complaints was sufficient (upholding the complaints and apologising to the complainants). The Authority ordered the broadcast of a statement, plus $3,000 costs to the Crown.
Upheld: Good Taste and Decency, Responsible Programming, Children’s Interests
Not Upheld: Good Taste and Decency (Action Taken), Children’s Interests (Action Taken)
Orders: broadcast of statement, $3,000 costs to Crown
Breakfast. Presenter deliberately mispronounced the name of the Chief Minister of Delhi. Upheld (good taste and decency, fairness and discrimination and denigration): action taken. Not upheld (responsible programming). Orders (broadcast statement, $3,000 costs to Crown).
News items broadcast simultaneously on The Breeze and Coromandel Gold FM two days running made allegations against a mayoral candidate for the Thames-Coromandel District Council over an email he had circulated; they used the terms “doctored”, “doctoring” and “falsify”. The candidate made a complaint under the accuracy and fairness standards. The Authority declined to uphold either complaint: the terms used were distinguishable as the opinion of his political rivals and were exempt from accuracy under guideline 5a; and the candidate had been given an adequate opportunity to respond, so had been treated fairly.
Not Upheld: Accuracy, Fairness
3 News. News reader referred to “Samoan prison guards”. Not upheld (discrimination and denigration).