Radio Sport – upheld – good taste and decency

The Authority has upheld a complaint about a soundtrack on Radio Sport which conveyed the impression of a woman having sex with a bull. The show’s presenter commented, “My god is there nothing those people won’t get up to up there. I guess if you spend most of your life looking at the back end of a cow it’s liable to affect you in the long run.”

When determining a good taste and decency complaint, the Authority takes into account the context in which the programme is broadcast. On this occasion, the broadcast was on Radio Sport, a station targeted mainly at males aged 18 to 59 years. However, it played at 10.15am on a Sunday morning – and even niche-targeted stations are expected to exercise a degree of discretion during times when children might normally listen to the radio. The Authority considered that the impression of bestiality given by the soundtrack, and the presenter’s subsequent remarks reinforcing this impression, would have been offensive and distasteful to a significant number of listeners.
Read full decision: http://www.bsa.govt.nz/decisions/2006/2006-122.htm

Attack on teenage girl – upheld – violence, children’s interests

A One News item, broadcast last October, reported that a group of teenage boys in Australia had filmed their attack on an intellectually disabled teenage girl, and were circulating DVD copies of the incident for $5 each. The item included portions of the DVD showing the boys taunting the girl and setting fire to her hair. The girl, whose face was pixellated, was seen crawling on the ground.

The Authority upheld breaches of two standards, violence and children’s interests. It was of the view that a warning should have preceded the broadcast. It found the brief introduction given would have left viewers unprepared for the level of violence contained in the item.
Although news programmes are unclassified, broadcasters are required to be mindful that young people may be among the viewers of early evening news. While the Authority acknowledges that few children watch the news unattended, it considers that the level of violence in this item would have been likely to disturb child viewers, and there was no warning given that would have enabled parents to exercise discretion. The Authority found that TVNZ failed on this occasion to consider the interests of child viewers.
Read full decision: http://www.bsa.govt.nz/decisions/2006/2006-125.htm

“The F Word” – upheld – privacy, children’s interests

An item entitled “The F Word” was broadcast on TVNZ’s current affairs programme Sunday. It examined the growing movement in New Zealand of fathers dissatisfied with their treatment in the Family Court, and referred to a similar movement in Australia. It featured lengthy interviews with two fathers involved in custody disputes. One father was interviewed at various points throughout the programme, and during these segments home video footage of his daughter was shown. The man was also shown speaking on the telephone to his daughter, and her responses could be heard and were subtitled.

The girl’s mother complained that the programme had breached her daughter’s privacy, and that she had been unnecessarily identified.

The Authority found that the broadcaster had failed to satisfy itself that the broadcast was in this child’s best interests. She was exploited by the broadcast, in particular by the unnecessary use of home video footage which contributed nothing to the subject matter under discussion.
Read full decision: http://www.bsa.govt.nz/decisions/2006/2006-090.htm

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ENDS

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