Check out our bite sized guides to safe viewing and listening, and the complaints process
Quick Guide
The complaints process
An outline of how the broadcasting standards complaints process works
Choosing a standard
How to know which broadcasting standard applies
Complaints that are unlikely to succeed
Guidance on types of complaints that are least likely to be upheld
Classifications and timebands
Guide to classifications, audience advisories and timebands
Guidance: Children’s rights and broadcasting
Guide to protecting tamariki from harmful content
Guidance: Power to decline to determine a complaint
How the BSA applies Broadcasting Act provisions on complaints that need not be determined
Guidance: Costs awards to complainants
A guide for complainants and broadcasters on the awarding of costs
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
All FAQ's ›You must complain to the broadcaster first (unless your complaint is about privacy only or about election programmes, in which case you can send it straight to the BSA). To go through the BSA process, it has to be a ‘formal complaint’.
If you just want to let the broadcaster know your concerns, or it’s not an issue that can come to the BSA, it will be considered an ‘informal complaint’.
Contact details for major broadcasters are here.
A formal complaint must:
- be in writing
- relate to a specific broadcast
- be made within the required timeframe (usually within 20 working days of the broadcast)
- include enough details to reasonably enable identification of the broadcast, eg:
- date of the broadcast
- time of the broadcast (if known, or if not known, a reasonable estimate of the period in which it was broadcast plus as much detail as possible about surrounding broadcast content or any other information to help locate the content)
- title of the programme
- channel or station which broadcast the programme
- be an allegation that particular broadcasting standards have been breached.
Complaints not meeting these requirements do not fall within the BSA complaints process and broadcasters may treat them as feedback only.
If you’re complaining to the broadcaster, you need to make your complaint within 20 working days of the broadcast.
If you’re referring your complaint to the BSA, you must do so within 20 working days of receiving the broadcaster’s decision, or if the broadcaster didn’t respond, within 60 working days of the original broadcast.
For complaints about programmes that have not yet aired, see Can I complain about a programme that hasn’t aired yet?