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Complaint under section 8(1B)(b)(i) of the Broadcasting Act 1989All Night Programme – reviewed book about events during World War II – allegedly in breach of good taste and decency standard FindingsStandard 1 (good taste and decency) – review did not minimise the horror of the Holocaust or the events depicted in the novel – book presented as a historical fictional novel that was a blend of fact and fiction – contextual factors – not upheld This headnote does not form part of the decision. Introduction [1] During the All Night Programme, broadcast on Radio New Zealand National on 9 May 2012, a guest reviewed a book called “Himmler’s brain is called Heydrich”, written by Laurent Binet. The book is in the genre of historical novel where a fictional account is written around an historical event....

BEFORE THE BROADCASTING STANDARDS AUTHORITY Decision No: 1998-044 Dated the 30th day of April 1998 IN THE MATTER of the Broadcasting Act 1989 AND IN THE MATTER of a complaint by M SCOTT of Wellington Broadcaster RADIO NEW ZEALAND LIMITED S R Maling Chairperson L M Loates R McLeod J Withers...

BEFORE THE BROADCASTING STANDARDS AUTHORITY Decision No: 1998-106 Dated the 24th day of September 1998 IN THE MATTER of the Broadcasting Act 1989 AND IN THE MATTER of a complaint by REX LE BAS of Dunedin Broadcaster RADIO NEW ZEALAND LTD S R Maling Chairperson L M Loates R McLeod J Withers...

BEFORE THE BROADCASTING STANDARDS AUTHORITY Decision No: 1996-143 Dated the 31st day of October 1996 IN THE MATTER of the Broadcasting Act 1989 AND IN THE MATTER of a complaint by PHILLIP DUNLOP of Pokeno Broadcaster RADIO NEW ZEALAND LIMITED J M Potter Chairperson L M Loates R McLeod A Martin...

Complaint under section 8(1B)(b)(i) of the Broadcasting Act 1989Nine to Noon – Pacific correspondent updated situation in Fiji – allegedly unbalanced and inaccurate Findings Principle 4 (balance) – programme was not a discussion of a controversial issue – standard did not apply – not upheld Principle 6 (accuracy) – four inaccurate statements – upheld No Order This headnote does not form part of the decision. Broadcast [1] On 7 March 2008 on Radio New Zealand National, the host of the Nine to Noon programme interviewed Pacific correspondent Michael Field, who was asked to give an update on what had been happening in Fiji. Mr Field stated that the situation in Fiji was "progressively getting worse" and that Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama was showing "all the signs of true military dictatorship"....

Paul France declared a conflict of interest and did not participate in the determination of this complaint. Complaint under section 8(1B)(b)(i) of the Broadcasting Act 1989Morning Report – several items discussed whether SKY Television's hosting rights for the next Olympics would mean that a large number of households would not be able to view the Olympics free-to-air – allegedly inaccurate, unfair and in breach of controversial issues standard Findings Standard 4 (controversial issues - viewpoints) – broadcaster made reasonable efforts to present SKY's perspective over the course of the programme – not upheld Standard 5 (accuracy) – no inaccurate or misleading statements of fact – not upheld Standard 6 (fairness) – SKY's perspective was conveyed – not treated unfairly – not upheld This headnote does not form part of the decision....

The Chair, Joanne Morris, declared a conflict of interest and did not take part in the determination of this complaint. Complaint under section 8(1)(a) of the Broadcasting Act 1989The Treaty Debate – three broadcasts over three weeks – covered various viewpoints on The Treaty of Waitangi and Māori issues – allegedly unbalancedFindings Principle 4 (balance) – programmes intended to provoke debate and discussion – not a definitive discussion on all aspects of the Treaty of Waitangi – period of current interest remains open – not upheldThis headnote does not form part of the decision. Broadcast [1] Radio New Zealand Limited broadcast The Treaty Debate on National Radio in three one-hour broadcasts on the 13th, 20th and 27th of February 2005. [2] The debates were part of a public lecture series recorded at Te Papa Tongarewa....

Summary[This summary does not form part of the decision. ]An item on Sunday Morning featured an interview with journalist Paula Penfold about the recently published book, Don’t Dream It’s Over: Reimagining Journalism in Aotearoa New Zealand. During the interview, Ms Penfold discussed the Stuff Circuit team’s investigation into the death of a teenage girl with Down Syndrome at the Gloriavale Christian community. Ms Penfold referred to the complainant’s documentary, Gloriavale: A Woman’s Place, saying, ‘And I know a little bit about how that works with Hopeful Christian, the leader at Gloriavale. You know, he will insist on editorial control’. The Authority did not uphold a complaint that Ms Penfold’s statements were inaccurate. Ms Penfold’s statement represented her own analysis, comment or opinion, based on her experiences at Gloriavale, and so was not subject to the accuracy standard....

Summary[This summary does not form part of the decision. ]An episode of the radio documentary series, Insight, titled ‘Will cameras end commercial fish dumping’, discussed the issue of whether the quota management system (QMS) was contributing to illegal fish dumping practices in the commercial fishing industry and whether camera monitoring could be used to improve this issue. The episode featured an interview with Dr Russel Norman, the Executive Director of Greenpeace NZ, who described a camera monitoring trial run by the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) and undertaken by Trident Systems (Trident) and an independent research company, Archipelago. Dr Norman said that, during the trial, Archipelago found ‘lots of illegal behaviour, dumping, killing of Hector’s dolphins’, while Trident ‘found nothing’. Dr Norman then suggested that MPI awarded a contract to Trident for filming of a commercial fishery because of these results....

Summary[This summary does not form part of the decision. ]An item on Morning Report featured an interview between presenter Kim Hill and a seismologist from GNS Science, following a 4. 3-magnitude earthquake the previous night. At the beginning of the interview, during a discussion of the seismologist’s initial reaction to the earthquake, Ms Hill said, ‘WTF’. The Authority did not uphold a complaint that the use of the term ‘WTF’ in this broadcast was unacceptable and a breach of the good taste and decency standard. The Authority found that, taking into account relevant contextual factors, including the nature of the programme, audience expectations of RNZ and Kim Hill, and the fact that the offensive word implied was not explicitly stated in the broadcast, the use of ‘WTF’ did not threaten community norms of taste and decency, or justify restricting the right to freedom of expression....

The Authority upheld a complaint that a broadcast of First Up was misleading and breached the accuracy standard. The Authority found the quiz question ‘what charges did Sweden drop last week against WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange? ’ was misleading, as charges were never formally laid against Mr Assange. The Authority also found that RNZ did not make reasonable efforts to ensure the accuracy of the broadcast noting that the error was careless. The Authority did not make any orders on this occasion. Upheld: Accuracy No Orders...

BEFORE THE BROADCASTING STANDARDS AUTHORITY Decision No: 12/95 Dated the 9th day of March 1995 IN THE MATTER of the Broadcasting Act 1989 AND IN THE MATTER of a complaint by JAMES OAKLEY of Wellington Broadcaster RADIO NEW ZEALAND LIMITED I W Gallaway Chairperson J R Morris L M Loates W J Fraser...

Summary The manager of the Chatham Islands Millennium Project was interviewed by Kim Hill on the programme Nine to Noon broadcast on National Radio on 28 January 1999 at 9. 45am. At the conclusion of the interview, he was asked to explain whether his previous conviction for fraud had been an impediment in this role. Mr P F Smith, Mayor of the Chatham Islands Council, complained to Radio New Zealand Ltd, through the Broadcasting Standards Authority that the interviewer had acted unprofessionally in raising that issue. The Council sought a ruling from the Authority to censure the broadcaster, he wrote. In its response, RNZ argued that as a significant amount of public money had been granted to the Chatham Islands Millennium Project, it was considered reasonable to raise the matter of the Project Manager’s background....

BEFORE THE BROADCASTING STANDARDS AUTHORITY Decision No: 1996-086 Dated the 15th day of August 1996 IN THE MATTER of the Broadcasting Act 1989 AND IN THE MATTER of a complaint by J B WILLIAMSON of Wellington Broadcaster RADIO NEW ZEALAND LIMITED J M Potter Chairperson L M Loates R McLeod A Martin...

Summary The weather in Northland was predicted to include a few showers turning to rain later, according to the midday weather forecast on Concert FM on 15 July 1999. Michael Batham of Russell complained to Radio New Zealand Ltd, the broadcaster, that the weather report was inaccurate and did not fully inform listeners of the actual conditions. He said that the following day a news item reported that there had been a number of road accidents in Northland which had been caused by bad weather. He also complained that the weather forecasts in general were too inaccurate for boating people to rely on. RNZ responded that, given the brevity of the forecast used on Concert FM and the large geographical area of each region, there was no inaccuracy in the information conveyed. It emphasised that full marine forecasts were available from other sources....

ComplaintArts Week on National Radio – interview with author – unbalancedFindingsPrinciple 4 – clearly author’s opinions – no controversial issue – no uphold This headnote does not form part of the decision. Summary Frances Stonor Saunders, author of "Who Paid the Piper? : The CIA and the Cultural Cold War", was interviewed on Arts Week on National Radio at 10. 06am on 28 May 2000. In the interview she expounded her thesis that the CIA, with the approval and knowledge of the American government, had financed a campaign to export American culture and its ideals of liberalism and democracy to Western Europe during the Cold War. Grahame Meikle complained to Radio New Zealand Ltd that the interview was completely lacking in balance. The basis of his complaint, he said, was that listeners were not told of the author’s background, and her statements were uncritically accepted by the interviewer....

Summary[This summary does not form part of the decision. ]An interview was broadcast on Saturday Morning with a Swedish historian and author. During the interview, the presenter allegedly quoted former Finance Minister, Sir Roger Douglas. At the end of the item, the presenter also read out negative and critical comments from listeners about the interview. The Authority did not uphold a complaint that the presenter’s statement, allegedly attributed to Sir Roger Douglas, was inaccurate, and that reading out the comments received was offensive. The statement was not a material point of fact in the context of the item and would not have affected listeners’ understanding of the item as a whole, which was focused on the views and work of the interviewee. Further, listeners were unlikely to have understood the statement to be a direct quote from the former Finance Minister, and would not have been misled....

The Authority did not uphold a complaint that an item on Morning Report discussing the possible boycott of the Tuia – Encounters 250 commemorations was unbalanced, inaccurate and unfair. The Authority found the item was balanced through the presentation of alternative perspectives and the existence of significant media coverage within the period of current interest. The Authority also found the broadcast did not contain any material inaccuracy with respect to Captain Cook’s first arrival in New Zealand. Finally, the Authority found the fairness standard did not apply as the complainant did not identify any person or organisation who took part in or was referred to in the broadcast who was treated unfairly. Not Upheld: Accuracy, Balance, Fairness...

Complaint under section 8(1B)(b)(i) of the Broadcasting Act 1989Nine to Noon – interview with Sir Eion Edgar – allegedly in breach of law and order, controversial issues, accuracy, fairness and responsible programming FindingsStandards 2 (law and order), 4 (controversial issues), 5 (accuracy), 6 (fairness) and 8 (responsible programming) – complainant’s concerns did not raise any issues of broadcasting standards – decline to determine under section 11(b) of the Broadcasting Act 1989 This headnote does not form part of the decision. Broadcast [1] During Nine to Noon, broadcast on Radio New Zealand National on Monday 22 February 2010, the host interviewed Sir Eion Edgar as he had recently been named Senior New Zealander of the Year....