BSA Pānui - Broadcasting Act turns 35, and is showing its age

Kia ora koutou
 

Today marks 35 years of the broadcasting standards regime as we know it.

The BSA came into being under the Broadcasting Act 1989. This received royal assent on 27 May 1989, in the year David Lange resigned as Prime Minister, Sunday trading began, TV3 began operations, and the Holmes Show was first screened. The World Wide Web was a thing of the future.

After 35 years as the nation’s broadcasting regulator, we believe our vision of freedom of expression without harm is as relevant as ever, but legislation is stuck in the pre-internet age.

Broadcasting Act showing its age

The past 35 years have seen the BSA tackle some era-defining issues and evolving community attitudes towards aspects of harm, along with seismic shifts in technology and audience behaviour.

In this time, we’ve moved from receiving complaints by fax and reviewing VHS tapes of broadcasts to a world where audiences are rapidly moving from traditional radio, TV and print to online and digital platforms.

Working alongside broadcasters, the BSA has established itself as a respected regulator overseeing a standards system that ensures freedom in broadcasting without harm. The success of our co-regulatory regime – where broadcasters are the first port of call for complainants – is evidenced by low BSA uphold rates for complaints about TV and radio programmes.

However, audiences are fast migrating from traditional broadcasting to new platforms outside our jurisdiction or that of any existing regulator – and this is making it harder to keep delivering on our vision. The need for reform towards a modern, fit-for-purpose regulatory framework is urgent if we want to continue to uphold standards in New Zealand media.

The role of broadcasters

As many broadcasters face into growing challenges in the fast-changing current environment, it’s worth taking a moment to recognise the vital role they play in our society and democracy – both as exponents of free expression and co-regulators in the standards regime.

Broadcasting facilitates the vibrant exchange of information and ideas, holds the powerful to account, can express who we are, tell our stories, reflect and enliven our culture. Broadcasters inform, educate and entertain New Zealanders. They are enabled by the essential right to freedom of expression, and with that accept responsibilities embedded in the standards.

As we look back on three and a half decades of co-regulation, we thank broadcasters for the role they’ve played in delivering freedom of expression without harm. Notwithstanding changes in technology and platforms, they have remained committed to delivering on this fundamental right, and the responsibility that goes along with it.

Highlights over the past 35 years

• The BSA released its two first decisions in January 1990. One of theseopen_in_new concerned a broadcast investigating “after-dark activities in one block of Vivian Street, Wellington” (it wasn't What We Do In The Shadows). The BSA accepted this was designed “to give an insight into what many people may well consider to be unseemly, unsavoury and tasteless businesses”. However, given the context and viewer expectations, it did not breach the then ‘good taste and decency’ standard – an approach that could well be applied today.
   
• Allegations of unfair treatment of politicians have been ongoing, including complaints from politicians themselves. A high-profile uphold in 1994open_in_new found then Health Minister Jenny Shipley was treated unfairly in a radio interview. But the BSA acknowledged changing times in radio, resulting in a review of how the broadcasting codes apply to talkback. Over time it has been well established that the threshold for finding a fairness breach in relation to politicians or public figures is higher than for laypeople or those unfamiliar with the media. Politicians can reasonably expect a high level of scrutiny over their public roles.
   
• Humour, while considered subjective, has been the target of numerous complaints for formal determination. These are seldom upheld, but in a notable 2005 decisionopen_in_new, the BSA upheld a complaint about the “gratuitously explicit” F**k News, in which two partly dressed presenters seemed to be having sex while reading the news. The Authority “acknowledged an important role for television to broadcast humorous exaggerated imitations of aspects of society, but pointed out that there were limits to what could be accepted even in a satirical context”.
   
• The BSA’s longstanding research on language that may offend in broadcastingopen_in_new reflects sweeping changes in community views over time – with a shrinking tolerance for racial and cultural slurs, but softening attitudes towards blasphemy and the F-word. Twenty-five years ago, repeated use of the word ‘bugger’ in a famous advert for a ute vehicle sparked national outrage. Considered unacceptable by one in six Kiwis at the time, ‘bugger’ has now dropped from the BSA’s list of offending terms along with several others previously considered ‘swear’ words.
   
• The Christchurch mosque attacks in March 2019 were the subject of some of the BSA’s most challenging and significant decisionsopen_in_new. The Authority upheld a complaint about a TV news item in which extensive excerpts from the attacker’s livestream video had the potential to cause significant distress – particularly to the family and friends of victims and the wider Muslim community. Due to the unprecedented circumstances and high public interest, the BSA did not uphold complaints about other news items featuring a very brief excerpt from the livestream video and footage of victims being taken into hospital. The BSA subsequently produced new guidance for reporting on terrorism, violent extremism and crisis eventsopen_in_new.
   
• The COVID-19 pandemic generated increasingly passionate responses and saw the BSA dealing with misinformation and disinformation on significant public health issuesopen_in_new. Broadcasting complaints increased sharply and took on a new level of vehemence reflecting growing polarisation. The Authority found that in the overwhelming majority of cases broadcasters had covered “the vicissitudes of the crisis” correctly and accurately.
   
• In March 2021, the BSA drew a line under complaints against the use of te reo Māoriopen_in_new in broadcasting. In new guidance, the Authority noted Māori was an official language and its use was protected and promoted by law. Complaints about its use do not raise issues of harm and the BSA encourages broadcasters to respond indicating it is not a breach of standards to broadcast in te reo Māori.

All of our past decisions, dating back to 1990, can be browsed on our website hereopen_in_new.

And, of course, our work continues. In this Pānui, we take the chance to share our latest decisions and a selection of recent sector news and research.

Ngā mihi mahana
Stacey Wood
Chief Executive