The majority of the Authority has upheld a complaint that a segment on 1News Tonight reporting regarding an Israeli strike on Iran breached the accuracy standard. The complainant alleged the broadcast was misleading as the use of ‘unprecedented’ to describe a prior Iranian strike implied the Iranian strike was unprovoked, and this was compounded by the omission of reference to an earlier Israeli strike on an Iranian consulate building in Syria. The majority agreed the broadcast created a misleading impression of Iran’s actions through use of the term ‘unprecedented’ to describe its strike on Israel, inclusion of comments suggesting Israel’s strike to be a proportionate response and due to comments of the Iranian Foreign Minister being edited in a way rendering them unclear. The minority view was that viewers of the broadcast were likely to be aware of the prior context for Iran’s strike, and that the broadcast could not be interpreted in the manner alleged given the comments included from the Iranian Foreign Minister and the broadcast’s focus on the risks introduced by ‘tit for tat’ strikes in the Middle East. The Authority unanimously held that the discrimination and denigration and fairness standards either did not apply or were not breached.
Upheld by Majority: Accuracy
Not Upheld: Discrimination and Denigration, Fairness
No Order
The Authority has not upheld a complaint about an item on Newshub Live at 6pm reporting on New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’ State of the Nation speech, which stated Peters had compared the previous Labour Government’s approach to co-governance to the Holocaust. The complainant considered this breached the accuracy standard on the basis Peters had referred to Nazi Germany and ‘growing social/racial differences as evident in Germany’ pre-World War II rather than to the Holocaust. The Authority found the broadcast was not misleading, noting the description that Peters had made a comparison to the Holocaust was not materially different to saying he had made a comparison to Nazi Germany. It also noted Peters did not refute the notion that he had made a comparison to the Holocaust when this was directly put to him afterwards, and further the report included footage of the relevant part of Peters’ speech allowing the audience to form their own impressions of his meaning.
Not Upheld: Accuracy
Warning: This decision discusses issues of sexual abuse of children and suicide.
The Authority has not upheld a complaint that documentary 1 Special: The Lost Boys of Dilworth was inaccurate by not mentioning the denomination or titles of school chaplains involved in sexual abuse of students, or a complaint that the inclusion of re-enactments of memories of survivors re-traumatised victims of abuse, promoted sexual offending against children, breached privacy and was unfair to child actors involved. The Authority found that omission to mention the denomination or title of chaplains would not have materially altered the audience’s understanding of the documentary. The Authority also found that the inclusion of re-enactments did not breach the standards nominated, noting in particular that audience members (including survivors of abuse) were given appropriate information to make informed viewing decisions, no re-enactment depicted sexual violence and the offending of paedophiles was condemned throughout. The privacy standard was not breached. Other standards raised either did not apply or were not breached.
Not Upheld: Offensive & Disturbing Content, Children’s Interests, Promotion Of Illegal or Antisocial Behaviour, Discrimination & Denigration, Balance, Accuracy, Privacy, Fairness
The Authority has not upheld a complaint that comments made by the hosts of Midweek Mediawatch concerning sexual violence during the October 7 attacks in Israel were inaccurate, unbalanced and unfair for downplaying or denying that sexual violence occurred. During an extended discussion concerning an interview on Q + A, and how the Israel-Hamas conflict is reported on generally, the hosts noted reporting of sexual violence on 7 October 2023 had been challenged by other outlets, and mentioned that the Q + A interview did not challenge these claims. The Authority found that the statements were more consistent with analysis, comment or opinion to which the accuracy standard did not apply. However, it found relevant statements were, in any event, not misleading. The balance and fairness standards did not apply.
Not Upheld: Accuracy, Balance, Fairness
The Authority has not upheld a complaint about a comment made on Newstalk ZB referring to the delays that would result while ‘people are in there determining whether they’re transgender or not’ if the census was to be combined with voting. The complainant argued the comment was condescending and derisive of transgender people and that reference to the question on gender identity was irrelevant to the point the host was making. While recognising the comments may be offensive to some people, in the context they did not meet the high threshold required to constitute a breach of the standard.
Not Upheld: Discrimination and Denigration
A promo for James Must-a-pic His Mum a Man aired during the programmes The Chase at 5.10pm and 1News at 6.50pm on TVNZ 1. The 14-second promo featured James Mustapic and Art Green sitting at opposite ends of a bathtub, with Mustapic asking Green for dating advice on behalf of his mum. The Authority did not uphold a complaint the promo breached the children’s interests standard due to nudity, noting only their chests and legs were visible, and there was no suggestion of sexual behaviour. In the context, the Authority found the promo was consistent with a G classification and would not have adversely affected children.
Not Upheld: Children’s Interests
The Authority has not upheld a complaint about an item on 1News where a reporter repeatedly asked Winston Peters ‘Has the Prime Minister asked you to pull your head in?’ The complainant alleged these comments were rude and biased. The Authority did not uphold the complaint as while some members of the audience may have found the questioning rude, it was within audience expectations of programmes such as 1News and was unlikely to cause widespread offence and distress. The discrimination and denigration standard did not apply.
Not Upheld: Offensive and Disturbing Content, Discrimination and Denigration
The Authority has not upheld a complaint that a story called “A Hāngī for my Birthday,” which was read out on Storytime on RNZ National, breached the children’s interests and offensive and disturbing content standards. The story was told from the perspective of a young child whose birthday was that day, and who helped his family prepare a hāngī for dinner. The complaint was that a part of the story where the family buy and kill hens to cook in the hāngī was unsuitable for children. The Authority acknowledged the story contained challenging themes on where meat comes from and that some of the descriptions, including the hens in cages, and being pulled out by the legs and stuffed in boxes, alluded to possible mistreatment of the animals. While acknowledging societal shifts in attitudes to animal welfare and ethical sourcing of food, ultimately the Authority found the story was unlikely to have ‘disproportionately disturbed’ or harmed a majority of children listening, noting the story was told in a calm and matter-of-fact way from a child’s perspective, was via audio rather than a visual depiction, and had educational value.
Not Upheld: Children’s Interests, Offensive and Disturbing Content
The Authority has upheld a complaint that promos for Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV, Paper Dolls and The Playboy Murders broadcast during family movie Scoob! breached the offensive and disturbing content and children’s interests standards, and that action taken by the broadcaster in response to the complaint was insufficient. The Authority found that, viewed cumulatively, the promos went beyond expectations of the host programme and its PG-VL classification, and scheduling them during Scoob! meant the broadcaster did not enable child viewers to be protected from potentially unsuitable content. The Authority did not make any orders, however, finding publication of the decision was sufficient to publicly notify and remedy the breach and to provide guidance to the broadcaster and broadcasters generally.
Upheld: Offensive and Disturbing Content, Children’s Interests (Action Taken)
No Order
The Authority has not upheld a complaint about offensive language and sexual themes in an episode of New Zealand Today, a satirical ‘journalism’ programme by comedian Guy Williams. The programme was broadcast at 8.35pm, classified 16-LSC (advisory for language, sexual content, and content that may offend), and preceded by a full-screen warning, with the classification and advisory labels repeated after each advertisement break. Given audience expectations of Williams and the programme, the classification, the warning and the scheduling, the Authority found the broadcast would not cause widespread undue offence in the context, and audiences were able to make their own informed viewing choices. The discrimination and denigration standard did not apply.
Not Upheld: Offensive and Disturbing Content, Discrimination and Denigration