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
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
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
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
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 item on Campbell Live featured two reporters dressed in full burqas using hidden cameras to film the public’s reaction. It included footage of a woman refusing the reporters entry to her shop and questioning their style of dress. The footage was rebroadcast on 3 News and The Jono Project. The programmes made negative comments about the woman’s behaviour. The woman in the footage complained that this breached the privacy, fairness and accuracy standards. The Authority upheld the fairness complaint: the footage was obtained through misrepresentation and the complainant was not informed of the nature of her participation, and the complainant should have been given an opportunity to respond to the negative portrayal of her in the programmes. The Authority did not uphold the privacy and accuracy complaints: the broadcasts did not disclose any private facts and the filming occurred in a public place; the 3 News and Campbell Live items would not have misled viewers into believing the reporters were genuine Muslims, while The Jono Project was not a factual programme to which the standard applied. The Authority ordered TVWorks Ltd to pay $2,000 costs to the Crown.
Upheld: Fairness
Not Upheld: Privacy, Accuracy
Order: $2,000 costs to Crown
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
Two Campbell Live items reported on controversial comments made by the Chief Executive (CE) of the Employers and Manufacturers Association (EMA), Alasdair Thompson, that some female workers are less productive because they take sick leave when they are menstruating. The first item was an excerpt from an interview with Mr Thompson, while the second consisted of a panel discussion about Mr Thompson’s behaviour during the interview. Both items questioned whether Mr Thompson should remain in his position at the EMA. The Authority declined to uphold complaints that the items were unfair, inaccurate, unbalanced and breached individuals’ right to privacy: the interview footage was fair; the items focused on Mr Thompson’s comments and his competency to fulfil his role as CE of the EMA, rather than the specific issue of pay equity, but balance was achieved in relation to both issues; and the items did not breach anyone’s privacy. In a minority decision, one member found that the broadcast of only a small part of the interview would have left viewers with an unfairly negative impression of Mr Thompson.
Not Upheld: Accuracy, Controversial Issues, Privacy
Not Upheld (majority): Fairness
An item on One News, broadcast on TV One, reported on Prime Minister John Key referring the matter of the “tea tapes” to the police. It included Mr Key’s comment that because the crime rate had been lowered the police “do have a little bit of spare time”. At the end, the reporter said, “John Key may face criticism . . . for saying that police have too much time on their hands.” The Authority declined to uphold the complaint that the broadcast breached standards relating to controversial issues, accuracy and fairness. Viewers heard Mr Key’s original comment so they would not have been misled; politicians should expect robust commentary on their views during an election period; and the item presented alternative views on the involvement of police in the matter.
Not Upheld: Controversial Issues, Accuracy, Fairness
A promo for 3 News broadcast on TV3 at 5.55pm contained a brief shot of a man head-butting another man during the ‘Occupy Dunedin’ protest movement. The Authority declined to uphold the complaint that the broadcast breached standards relating to good taste and decency, law and order, children’s interests, and violence. The footage was fleeting and inexplicit and no visible injury was shown; it did not encourage viewers to break the law or glamorise criminal activity; it screened immediately before the news within the host programme Home and Away which is not targeted at or likely to appeal to younger child viewers; and the voiceover signposted the footage as a “violent protest” against the occupiers.
Not Upheld: Good Taste and Decency, Law and Order, Children’s Interests, Violence