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 episode of Underbelly: Razor broadcast at 8.30pm included a sex scene in which a woman was on top of a man in bed; her breasts were briefly visible, and she could be heard moaning. The episode was preceded by a visual and verbal warning. The Authority upheld the complaint that the scene breached the children’s interests standard: the scene amounted to “strong adult material” broadcast close to the Adults Only watershed. The Authority made no order.
Upheld: Children’s Interests
No Order
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
An item on Sunday, entitled “Before We Say Goodbye”, reported on the case of Sean Davison, who was facing charges for assisting his mother’s suicide. Footage of Mr Davison in the Dunedin High Court was shown, during which a Corrections Officer, the complainant, was briefly visible in the background. The Authority declined to uphold the complaint that the broadcast breached standards relating to privacy, fairness and discrimination and denigration: the item did not disclose any private facts about the complainant, the footage of him was extremely brief and did not cause damage to his reputation or dignity, and the discrimination and denigration standard does not apply to individuals.
Not Upheld: Privacy, Fairness, Discrimination and Denigration
An episode of the documentary series Inside New Zealand, entitled “Inside Child Poverty”, investigated the current state of child health among the poorest sections of New Zealand society; the documentary-maker gave his perspective on the role of successive government policy in contributing to the current situation. The Authority did not uphold the complaint that the episode breached the fairness and law and order standards: the proposals for policy reform were not specific to any one political party and the presenter took a generic and non-partisan approach, and the broadcast did not encourage viewers to break the law.
Not Upheld: Law and Order, Fairness
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
A 3 News item reporting on an overnight series of aftershocks in Christchurch was introduced with the statement: “it’s just what Christchurch does not want to hear, warnings that a big one, seven on the Richter scale, is probably coming”. The item included extracts from an interview with a geologist interspersed with voiceover comments from the reporter. The Authority upheld the complaint that the item breached the standards relating to accuracy and responsible programming. The introductory statement inaccurately summarised the geologist’s opinion and overstated the prediction of a magnitude seven earthquake, and the statement was unnecessarily alarmist and was likely to have caused undue distress for Christchurch residents. The Authority made no order.
Upheld: Accuracy, Responsible Programming
No Order
A satirical item on Close Up featured a comedian reviewing the election campaign the night before the general election. The comedian used a whiteboard, on which the name of the Leader of the Opposition appeared and disappeared from time to time. The Authority declined to uphold the complaint that the broadcast breached the controversial issues and fairness standards: the item was a light-hearted review and did not require the presentation of alternative viewpoints, and the complainant did not identify who he thought had been treated unfairly.
Not Upheld: Controversial Issues, Fairness
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