KEY POINTS:
Television New Zealand has won a High Court appeal against a Broadcasting Standards Authority finding.
TVNZ had challenged the BSA's decision to uphold a complaint against the TV One show Close Up in which a woman convicted of a drink-driving offence was filmed leaving court.
The film was aired in May last year when Close Up did a report on the "naming and shaming" of drunk drivers in the Dominion Post.
A reporter approached two people outside an Auckland court, both of whom had drink-driving convictions.
The first, a 24-year-old man, was happy to talk on camera, but the woman - who was on her second conviction - said she did not want to be interviewed for fear she would lose her job.
She ran away and the reporter was filmed chasing her down the street.
At first the woman's face was pixilated but later it was revealed, along with details of her name, age, marital status, salary and convictions.
Auckland couple David and Heather Green complained to the BSA that the woman's treatment was unfair and imposed an extra penalty above that handed down by the court.
The authority upheld the complaint, saying it was not the identification of the woman but the sensational and gratuitous manner in which she was portrayed that was unfair.
But TVNZ appealed against the BSA's decision in the High Court at Wellington in May. Its lawyer, William Akel, argued the need for open justice which would, in most cases, take priority over privacy and fairness arguments.
Mr Akel submitted that the programme attempted to show that the 13,000 people convicted of drink-driving offences each year were everyday people. To have impact, it needed to show viewers someone they could relate to. "You can't raise those issues without contextualising them."
In a judgment issued last Friday, Justice Jill Mallon allowed the appeal and set aside the BSA's decision.
The judge said that she was conscious that the BSA was a specialist body that had the experience and expertise to make assessments of the issues raised.
"Nevertheless, I am satisfied that the BSA failed to take into account material relevant considerations which led it to a view that limited freedom of expression in a way that was not justified," she said.
"The unfairness to the woman was not the kind that breached the fairness standard."
Justice Mallon said she considered that the BSA failed to take into account the public nature of the courtroom and the right of the media to report on all, or any part, of what takes place in the courtroom unless there are suppression orders in place.
She said TVNZ was seeking to debate an idea. "That idea was whether greater publicity of drink-drive offenders would serve as a useful kind of deterrent to others."
- NZPA
