Radio 'fibs' item earns Anderton partial victory

The Broadcasting Standards Authority has partially upheld a complaint by Associate Health Minister Jim Anderton against a Morning Report broadcast on National Radio.

The February 12 broadcast concerned an interview with Mr Anderton relating to the Government's decision not to ban some popular cold and flu remedies, despite their use in the manufacture of the illegal drug methamphetamine, or "P".

Mr Anderton referred to a range of actions which had been taken with regard to methamphetamine, including increasing the penalties for importing ephedrine and pseudoephedrine and using it for illegal purposes.

He also referred to the situation in Rotorua, which had banned the sale of cold and flu remedies which contained pseudoephedrine.

Dr Bev O'Keefe, of the Rotorua General Practice Group, was asked to respond to Mr Anderton's suggestion that over-the-counter remedies containing pseudoephedrine were apparently not the main source of supply for makers of "P".

She said the over-counter-remedies were the main source.

The interviewer asked if Mr Anderton had been telling "fibs", to which Dr O'Keefe said their sources of information were clearly in conflict.

An item broadcast during the news section of Morning Report after the interview reported that Mr Anderton had said most of the pseudoephedrine involved in illegal drug manufacture was smuggled into the country.

Mr Anderton complained to Radio New Zealand that while he had said "huge amounts of pseudoephedrine and ephedrine" were imported, he had not been asked what was the main source of pseudoephedrine for those who made P.

He said he had not said that over-the-counter pharmaceuticals were not the main source of supply, and the interviewer's suggestion he had been telling lies was neither impartial nor balanced.

In its response, RNZ said the 8am news had contained a "reasonable summary" of Mr Anderton's replies and it was difficult to understand his complaint that he was not asked about the main source of ingredients used to manufacture P.

It did not accept the complaint that he had been accused of telling lies in relation to a question he had never been asked. The interviewer's reference to "fibs", it wrote, was not an accusation of lying, but a colloquially phrased follow-up question to Dr O'Keefe.

In its finding the authority said it thought Mr Anderton gave the impression, but did not state explicitly, that the main source of the drug was across the border.

"Accordingly, the authority accepts that the use of the word 'most' in the news item was not accurate and it therefore upholds the complaint that the item was in breach of Principle 6 [of the Radio Code of Broadcasting Practice]", relating to accuracy in broadcasting.

The authority declined to uphold any other aspect of the complaint, and declined to impose any order because of the circumstances of the breach.

"While the news item was inaccurate, that occurred because the associate minister left an impression which could be misinterpreted," the authority said.


- NZPA