Racehorse owner's complaint against Herald upheld

The Press Council has upheld a complaint against the New Zealand Herald for lacking balance in a racing story.

The complaint was made by Alan Cato who, with his wife Heather, owned a horse that suffered selenium poisoning while at the Waikato stables of trainer Tony Cole.

The Press Council said the Herald story last December 23 canvassed the history of selenium poisoning of horses in Cole's care in 2002 while previewing the chances of one of his horses in the New Zealand Derby on Boxing Day. The story quoted only the trainer's version of the history.

The story carried the headline: "Derby win would wipe away bitter memories".

A subsidiary heading said: "Cole was devastated when blamed for poisoning his horses".

Cato complained that the story lacked accuracy, fairness and balance.

The Herald's editor defended the story, saying neither the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry nor New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing had pressed charges against Cole.

Rather than relitigate a long civil dispute, the article was a human interest story about one person involved in that case, the editor said. He asserted that the newspaper had reported the broad issues, the inquiries and allegations over the selenium case over the past two years fairly and in a balanced fashion.

But Cato responded that the Herald's racing correspondent was the only one from the major daily newspapers not to contact the Catos directly for their side of the story.

The Press Council said "even human interest stories need to observe the basic tenets of balance and here the newspaper did an incomplete job".

- NZPA

* Mr Cato was just one owner of one horse of the 38 that suffered in this selenium case. The Herald did not contact him, or the owners of other affected horses, because the article was about the trainer and a new phase in his life, not the two-year-old dispute with owners. Importantly, the complainant Cato agreed during this Press Council process that the "exact circumstances relating to the poisoning of 38 horses in the care of Tony Cole over two years ago have little relevance to the [December 23, 2003] article". Precisely.

- Editor