TVNZ censured for standards breach

Photos / NZ Herald, Supplied

New Zealand's broadcasting watchdog has upheld complaints against two TVNZ shows.

In decisions released today, the Broadcasting Standards Authority (BSA) ruled that a Fair Go item breached accuracy and fairness standards and a sex scene in Band of Brothers was in breach of children's interests.

Fair Go

The Fair Go item screened on TVOne in November last year during an episode about the copyright of online photos.

A New Zealand woman claimed a photo she had taken of a tree underneath a rainbow had been posted on the internet and the rights to it claimed by another person.

A Fair Go reporter discussed the various websites on which the photo appeared , including one where a man claimed to have taken the photo in Missouri, USA. The photo was shown on the website with a caption reading "A Full Rainbow, Photograph by Dan Bush".

The reporter said she had contacted the man and said: "He claims that it's his photo, so we'll try to get to the bottom of it."

Mr Bush complained to TVNZ that Fair Go had suggested he had stolen the photo from the woman interviewed. He maintained he had taken the photo.

TVNZ maintained that the programme had not accused Mr Bush of any wrongdoing but accepted the photo was taken by Mr Bush and said that the Fair Go item had been removed from TVNZ's website and replaced with text saying Mr Bush was the owner of the photo and that the story would be revisited when Fair Go returned in 2010. A correction was broadcast on May 12.

TVNZ declined to uphold Mr Bush's complaint, which he referred to the BSA.

In its decision, the BSA said the programme clearly conveyed the message that the woman in New Zealand owned the rights to the image, and therefore that Mr Bush had stolen it.

"Although some doubt was introduced at the end of the item... we consider that viewers would still have been left with the strong impression that the woman in New Zealand was the rightful owner and that he was being dishonest."

Therefore, the programme was misleading.

The BSA made the rare move of ordering TVNZ to pay $1000 costs to the Crown. Costs were ordered because TVNZ's written response to Mr Bush trivialised the complaint and despite promising to broadcast a correction in this year's first episode, the correction was not broadcast until the second episode and was "a token statement which further trivialised the matter and which contained no admission that Fair Go was responsible for the mistake," the BSA ruled.

Band of Brothers

In March this year, World War II miniseries Band of Brothers featured an episode which, eight minutes into the 8.30pm TVOne programme, featured a sex scene between an American soldier and a German woman.

Melanie Riwai-Couch of Christchurch complained that TVNZ should have edited out the scene because it was shown at a time when children were still "up and about".

TVNZ did not uphold the complaint because the programmed was classified Adults Only and had been preceded by a verbal and written warning.

The complainant referred the matter to the BSA, which ruled the scene breached the standard of children's interests.

"In our view," ruled the BSA, "the broadcaster should have exercised greater discretion with respect o the sex scene considering its strong adult content and close proximity to the 8.30pm watershed."

Standard 9 (children's interests), requires broadcasters to consider the interests of child viewers during their normally accepted viewing times, usually up to 8.30pm, and to also ensure that strong adult material is not shown soon after the 8.30pm AO watershed.

No orders were given as the BSA said the decision served as a reminder to TVNZ to exercise discretion when choosing what to broadcast close to the 8.30pm AO watershed.

- NZ Herald staff