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NZME admits it misled listeners by buying into Trump’s ridiculous election fraud claims – but BSA somehow finds broadcasting standards not breached

Thursday, July 1st, 2021

Something is going wrong here. On NewsTalk ZB’s overnight talkback show, host Bruce Russell endorsed Trump’s claim that there was electoral fraud in Georgia, playing clips from people who said things like “there was fraud in Georgia’s election, we can prove it with data”. Russell concluded: “I think it speaks for itself, receiving 75 percent […]

Broadcasting Standards issue

Friday, October 3rd, 2014

I wonder when the Broadcasting Standards Authority are going to tell us that one of the BSA board members quit a couple of weeks ago. That hasn’t come out yet, has it? A member of the BSA has up and walked. They haven’t mentioned that one yet, have they? (Some might say that I have just made […]

No one-stop media regulator

Wednesday, October 2nd, 2013

The good news, for the Law Commission: the government thinks the Commission’s report on media regulation –  recommending the establishment of a one-stop media complaints body serving print, broadcast and online platforms – is “excellent”. The bad news: the government has rejected that recommendation. I summarised the Commission’s proposal in an earlier post. In short, […]

The NZ Herald’s weird response to the Law Commission

Thursday, March 28th, 2013

The NZ Herald has editorialised about the Law Commission’s proposal to set up a new News Media Standards Authority. It seems to veer between cautiously welcoming the report, and suggesting that the system ain’t broke. (No mention of the increasing absurdity of having different standards and complaints processes applying  to what is essentially identical material, or […]

TVNZ’s weird response to the Law Commission

Thursday, March 28th, 2013

Stuff is reporting that the NMSA is “not to broadcasters’ liking” and that “broadcasting agencies said dissolving the BSA would leave gaping holes for their non-news content.” Odd. For one thing, Stuff only seems to have talked to one agency, TVNZ. The TVNZ spokeswoman said she was concerned that broadcasters like TVNZ, which show both news […]

Labour’s weird response to the Law Commission

Thursday, March 28th, 2013

News Media Standards Authority: good idea! says Labour. Just make sure there are no political appointments: Consistent ethical standards for all forms of media are necessary but politicians should be kept away from appointing complaints bodies and setting terms of reference, said Labour’s Broadcasting, Communications and IT spokesperson Clare Curran and Justice spokesperson Andrew Little. […]

One-stop-shop for media complaints – Law Commission

Tuesday, March 26th, 2013

The NZ Law Commission has recommended that we scrap the Press Council, Broadcasting Standards Authority and nascent Online Media Standards Authority, and replace them with one body setting and policing news standards across the board. The Commission suggests we call it the “News Media Standards Authority” (NMSA). It would look more like the current Press […]

Bad Target practice

Tuesday, February 19th, 2013

Don’t like a decision of the Broadcasting Standards Authority? Well, just ignore it. That’s what the consumer TV programme Target seems to have done. Back in 2007, the BSA made it clear that Target is invading trade workers’ privacy when it invites them into its mock home for its hidden camera trials. That doesn’t mean […]

We don’t need no stinking press regulation

Thursday, December 6th, 2012

The Herald’s lawyer, Alan Ringwood, argues that we don’t need any statutory press regulation in NZ. Don’t listen to Levenson, he says. We don’t need to go there. (Full article here). I guess it’s not a news flash that the Herald’s lawyer would oppose statutory restrictions on the Herald. But I’m interested in his argument. […]

Breaking Laws

Thursday, October 18th, 2012

Michael Laws has been found in breach of broadcasting standards yet again, ironically for comparing someone else to a Pit Bull.

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