A news item on Radio New Zealand National about the French and Greek elections reported that “the polls have opened in Greece for parliamentary elections seen as a referendum on the country’s harsh austerity measures”. The Authority first determined that it had jurisdiction to accept the complaint. It did not uphold the complaint that the item breached the controversial issues, accuracy and fairness standards: the use of the word “harsh” did not require the presentation of alternative viewpoints; the word was not a material point of fact and would not have misled viewers; “harsh” was intended to mean strict or stringent and was not pejorative in this context; upholding the accuracy complaint would unreasonably restrict the broadcaster’s right to freedom of expression; and the fairness standard only applies to individuals.
Not Upheld: Controversial Issues, Accuracy, Fairness
All Decisions
An episode of Target featured hidden camera footage of employees from three different electrical companies working in the Target house. The companies were each given a score out of ten for their employees’ performance. The Authority upheld the complaint that the programme breached the privacy standard: the complainant was identifiable, he had an interest in seclusion in the Target house, the broadcast of the hidden camera footage was an offensive intrusion in the nature of prying, the complainant did not give his informed consent to the broadcast, and there was insufficient public interest in the footage to justify the breach of privacy. The Authority made no order.
Upheld: Privacy
No Order
A re-broadcast of an episode of the reality TV series The Inspectors showed an Environmental Health Officer carrying out a routine spot check at a Dunedin fish and chip shop and making critical comments about the state of the premises, downgrading it from a ‘B’ to a ‘D’. The inspection took place in 2009 and the programme was first broadcast on TV One in 2010. The complaint was about the latest broadcast in January 2012. The Authority upheld the complaint that this broadcast breached the privacy and fairness standards: the shop owner was identifiable even though his face was pixellated; any consent given was not informed and did not extend to the broadcast of the footage three years after filming; there was a high level of public interest in the footage at the time of filming but not three years later; and it was fundamentally unfair to broadcast footage three years after filming – the disclaimer at the start of the programme was not sufficient to mitigate the unfairness in this respect.
The Authority did not uphold the complaint that the programme breached the accuracy standard as it did not contain any material inaccuracies. The Authority made no order.
Upheld: Privacy, Fairness
Not Upheld: Accuracy
No Order
During the final episode of MasterChef New Zealand, broadcast at 7.30pm on TV One, the contestants used the words “crapping” and “pissed off”. The Authority did not uphold the complaint that this breached the good taste and decency standard: the language used was low-level and would not have offended most viewers in the context of a PGR programme.
Not Upheld: Good Taste and Decency
A One News item reported on the continuing debate over who owns New Zealand water, as part of the wider discussion about the Government’s proposal to sell state-owned enterprises (SOEs), and contained the graphic of a sign: “For Sale, NZ SOEs”. The Authority did not uphold the complaint that this breached the accuracy standard: the graphic was not a “material point of fact”, and given the extensive coverage of the Government’s proposed partial asset sales, viewers would not have been misled.
Not Upheld: Accuracy
A Close Up item reported on the sentencing of a man convicted of shooting another man in a hunting accident. During a visual reconstruction of a hunting trip, a gun was shown pointing towards the camera; the image was brief and out-of-focus and was on screen for approximately two seconds. The Authority did not uphold the complaint that this breached the law and order standard: footage of a gun pointed at the camera, while confronting, did not, when taken in context, encourage viewers to break the law or otherwise promote, condone or glamorise criminal activity.
Not Upheld: Law and Order
In a One News sports item reporting that Olympic medallist Nadzeya Ostapchuk had missed the deadline to appeal her positive drugs test so Valerie Adams would get her gold medal, the sports reporter joked to the other One News presenters, “If it hasn’t been melted down by a goldsmith in Minsk as we speak.” One of the presenters responded, “Yes, or reclaimed by that crazy president they’ve got”. The Authority did not uphold the complaint that this breached standards relating to good taste and decency, law and order, controversial issues, accuracy, fairness, discrimination and denigration, and responsible programming: the sports reporter and presenter were engaging in light-hearted banter and their comments did not carry any malice or invective.
Not Upheld: Good Taste and Decency, Law and Order, Controversial Issues, Accuracy, Fairness, Discrimination and Denigration, Responsible Programming
A news item on Checkpoint allegedly contained certain comments from Radio New Zealand’s economics reporter. The Authority declined to determine the complaint that these comments breached the accuracy, fairness and responsible programming standards: the comments identified by the complainant did not match the broadcast time and date specified and the Authority was therefore unable to assess broadcasting standards against those comments.
Declined to Determine: Accuracy, Fairness, Responsible Programming
An item on Nightline that followed up an earlier report on a “strip club turf war” in Wellington contained brief footage of a woman who was wearing a G-string dancing erotically on a pole. The Authority did not uphold the complaint that this breached the good taste and decency standard: the footage was very brief and had some relevance to the subject matter, the programme was broadcast more than two hours after the Adults Only watershed, and the majority of viewers would not have been offended in this context.
Not Upheld: Good Taste and Decency, Discrimination and Denigration, Repsonsible Programming
In a segment on Police Ten 7 profiling an aggravated robbery of a bar, a wanted offender was described as “possibly Māori but pale skinned” and “possibly Māori, [with a] light complexion”. The Authority did not uphold the complaint that this breached the discrimination and denigration standard since it did not encourage the denigration of, or discrimination against, Māori as a section of the community.
Not Upheld: Good Taste and Decency, Accuracy, Fairness, Discrimination and Denigration