Holmes OK to call Turia 'confused bag of lard', says BSA

1.30pm

An MP may be called a "confused bag of lard", but women who attend rugby league parties should not be referred to as "moles", the Broadcasting Standards Authority (BSA) has ruled.

The BSA issued the guidance today in decisions into complaints against broadcaster Paul Holmes.

Listeners complained to the BSA about Holmes' description of Tariana Turia on radio station Newstalk ZB in April.

Mrs Turia was a Labour Party MP at the time and is now co-leader of the Maori Party.

During the editorial piece complained about, Holmes had also described Mrs Turia as a bully who folded under pressure, and "all mouth and no trousers, all talk and no walk". He had also called her a "complete fool".

The BSA did not uphold the complaints, ruling that while the remarks were personally abusive and unfair to Mrs Turia, that did not necessarily put them beyond the bounds of good taste and decency.

Such standards were more aptly applied to material of a sexual or profane nature, the BSA said.

The comments had been made about a public figure whose possible action on the foreshore and seabed issue had then been a matter of high public profile, it added.

The BSA said it accepted the remarks had been editorial comment by a broadcaster who put his sometimes controversial views in a forthright manner.

Since the comments, Mrs Turia had been interviewed on the radio programme and on Holmes' television show, during which he had apologised.

On the radio show earlier in April, Holmes had commented on pack rape allegations against a team of Australian rugby league players, the BSA said in another decision.

He had described women who attended parties with rugby league players as "moles" and implied they were asking for trouble.

In its decision, the BSA said Holmes' comments had been ill-chosen and that it upheld a complaint about the comments.

"They reinforce incorrect and unfair stereotypes and perpetuated a myth that women who are sexually assaulted have somehow 'asked for it'," the BSA said.

"Whether intentional or not, the host's comments had the effect of encouraging the denigration of women who socialise with certain men's sports teams in an environment where alcohol is present."

Both serious comment and legitimate humour about the subject matter required more care and reasoning than had been demonstrated.

Broadcaster The Radio Network was ordered to broadcast a statement approved by the BSA, including a summary of the decision, at a time approved by the BSA.

- NZPA