BSA Decisions Ngā Whakatau a te Mana Whanonga Kaipāho

Summary  

[This summary does not form part of the decision.] 

The Authority has not upheld an accuracy complaint about a 1News segment that reported, ‘Many scientists are concerned the US Health Secretary's decision to pull funding for international vaccine development may increase hesitancy and also mean future pandemics are harder to stop.’ The complainant alleged the broadcast was inaccurate and materially misleading because it did not specify that US Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr’s decision ‘was specifically about mRNA vaccines’ and  background footage of protesters was irrelevant. While broadcasts can be misleading by omission, the Authority found the item in question was not materially misleading. The brief report centred on the scientific community’s response to Kennedy’s decision and clearly identified that Kennedy’s decision did not impact all vaccines. In this context, further detail about the type of vaccines affected was not material to viewers’ understanding of the broadcast. The audience were also unlikely to be misled by the footage of protesters.

Not Upheld: Accuracy

The broadcast

[1]  A brief item during the 7 August 2025 broadcast of 1News covered Robert F Kennedy Jr’s decision, as United States Health and Human Services Secretary, to remove funding for mRNA vaccine research. The newsreader said:

Many scientists are concerned the US Health Secretary's decision to pull funding for international vaccine development may increase hesitancy and also mean future pandemics are harder to stop. Known vaccine sceptic Robert F Kennedy Jr announced he's cutting almost $850 million allocated to research for vaccines to fight respiratory viruses such as COVID-19 and the flu. Kennedy's saying broader vaccine strategies will be prioritised that, quote, 'don't collapse when viruses mutate'. But scientists have refuted that, saying when vaccination rates are falling around the world, the evidence needs to be followed. 

[2]  Footage displayed during the item showed protesters at the side of a road. Several placards were visible, which read:

• ‘HANDS OFF’
• ‘Save the ARCTIC & its PEOPLE’
• ‘DEFEND THE SACRED PROTECT THE ARCTIC’
• ‘W.H.O KNOWS WHAT TO DO’
• ‘Get your TOXINS OFF OUR LAND’
• ‘VACCINES SAVE LIVES’.

The complaint

[3]  Robert Hepple complained the broadcast breached the accuracy standard of the Code of Broadcasting Standards in New Zealand because the broadcast did not specify Kennedy’s decision ‘was specifically about mRNA vaccines’. It misleadingly suggested Kennedy pulled funding for vaccines in general. Additionally, the broadcast included ‘a barely related video clip of protesters mainly trying to “Save the Arctic”’.

The broadcaster’s response

[4]  Television New Zealand Ltd (TVNZ) did not uphold the complaint for the following reasons:

• TVNZ accepted the report ‘did not state that 22 mRNA vaccine development investments were the specific targets having their funding removed by the US Health Secretary’.¹
• However, the report was brief ‘and it was an editorial decision to provide viewers with an abbreviated explanation of the scientific community's concern regarding Robert F Kennedy Jr's policy, rather than a detailed analysis of the rationale at hand, or the specific types of vaccines having their funding pulled’.
• ‘It is correct to say that mRNA vaccines are vaccines and that funding for vaccines is being cut. It is not material to viewers' understanding of the issue which particular type of vaccine was being targeted.’ In support of this, TVNZ outlined sections from MedlinePlus and Medical News Today webpages.²
• ‘For completion we note that Robert F Kennedy Jr’s justification for pulling the funding of these vaccines has been robustly refuted by fact-checkers,³ whose efforts to engage with his department, in order to better understand the disparity between his rationale and the clear consensus on these matters within the scientific community, have been met with silence.’
• Regarding the ‘generic contextual footage of protesters’, TVNZ noted the broadcast ‘did not make a direct connection between these particular protests and the matters at hand’. Regardless, ‘in addition to the “Save the Arctic” messages, there were more relevant messages’, such as ‘W.H.O. KNOWS WHAT TO DO’ and ‘VACCINES SAVE LIVES’.

The standard

[5]  The purpose of the accuracy standard (standard 6) is to protect the public from being significantly misinformed.⁴ The standard states:⁵

• Broadcasters should make reasonable efforts to ensure news, current affairs or factual content:
  • is accurate in relation to all material points of fact
  • does not materially mislead the audience (give a wrong idea or impression of the facts).
• Further, where a material error of fact has occurred, broadcasters should correct it within a reasonable period after they have been put on notice.

Our analysis

[6]  We have watched the broadcast and read the correspondence listed in the Appendix.

[7]  As a starting point, we considered the right to freedom of expression. It is our role to weigh up the right to freedom of expression and the value and public interest in the broadcast, against any harm potentially caused by the broadcast. We may only intervene where the level of harm means that placing a limit on the right to freedom of expression is reasonable and justified.⁶

Accuracy

[8]  The complaint is centred on an omission: that the broadcast did not specify Kennedy decided to pull funding for development of mRNA vaccines, rather than funding for vaccine development generally. Analysis will therefore centre on whether the omission rendered the item materially misleading by giving viewers ‘a wrong idea or impression of the facts’.

[9]  We consider the broadcast was not materially misleading. The item was a brief, 36-second report on the scientific community’s response to Kennedy’s decision, saying it ‘may increase hesitancy and also mean future pandemics are harder to stop’. The broadcast clearly indicated this decision did not impact all vaccines — ‘vaccines to fight respiratory viruses’ were affected, and ‘broader vaccine strategies will be prioritised that, quote, “don't collapse when viruses mutate”’. In this context, further detail about the type of vaccines affected — whether mRNA or ‘traditional’ — was not material to viewers’ understanding of the broadcast.

[10]  Turning to the footage of protesters, the segment did not discuss the footage or protests against Kennedy’s decision, and its relevance was not inherently obvious from the footage chosen. Regardless, we consider its inclusion would not have materially misled the audience. While we find no breach of the accuracy standard, we encourage broadcasters to exercise care when choosing such content.  

[11]  Accordingly, we do not uphold this complaint under the accuracy standard.

For the above reasons the Authority does not uphold the complaint. 

Signed for and on behalf of the Authority

Susie Staley
Chair
3 December 2025    

Appendix

The correspondence listed below was received and considered by the Authority when it determined this complaint:

1  Hepple’s formal complaint to TVNZ – 9 August 2025

2  TVNZ's decision on the complaint - 3 September 2025

3  Hepple's referral to the Authority - 13 September 2025

4  TVNZ's response to the referral - 3 October 2025

5  Hepple's further comments - 6 October 2025

6  TVNZ’s confirmation of no further comments – 22 October 2025

¹ “HHS Winds Down mRNA Vaccine Development under BARDA” US Department of Health and Human Services <hhs.gov>
² “What are mRNA vaccines and how do they work” MedlinePlus <medlineplus.gov>; “mRNA vaccine vs. traditional vaccines” Medical News Today <medicalnewstoday.com>
³ Kate Yandell and Lori Robertson “RFK Jr. Justifies Cuts to mRNA Vaccine Projects With Falsehoods” Factcheck.org (online ed, 11 August 2025)
⁴ Commentary, Standard 6, Code of Broadcasting Standards in New Zealand, page 16
⁵ Standard 6, Code of Broadcasting Standards in New Zealand
⁶ Introduction, Code of Broadcasting Standards in New Zealand, page 4