The chief of the country's most powerful media watchdog says we need new laws now to hold media to account in future. The outgoing government had a plan for one single body to oversee rules for all media, including the internet, but that slow-moving overhaul looks stalled. What does the Broadcasting Standards Authority want from our new rulers?

The chief of the country's most powerful media watchdog says we need new laws now to hold media to account in future. The outgoing government had a plan for one single body to oversee rules for all media, including the internet, but that slow-moving overhaul looks stalled.

What does the Broadcasting Standards Authority want from our new rulers?

This week the Broadcasting Standards Authority (BSA) issued its latest batch of rulings for this year on formal complaints it received earlier in 2023.

It's an interesting bunch.

The Authority declined to determine one about Country Calendar depicting deer being hunted and shot and processed at an abattoir - just the reality of life in Aotearoa New Zealand, the Authority decided.

It also declined to determine a complaint about undecided people being excluded from TVNZ's pre- election opinion polls - and one alleging a character described as "effing annoying" in a book review on RNZ's Nine to Noon breached standards for offensive and disturbing content.

(To be clear, "effing annoying" is exactly what was said on air - not the f-word variant itself)

But the Authority did uphold a complaint against Newstalk ZB host Mike Hosking, who told listeners during a teachers strike "people who go on strike have always been on full pay. They're supported by the unions'".

Mike Hosking

That was "materially inaccurate" and misleading the Authority said - even though some listeners did get in touch afterwards who knew that wasn't right.

A majority of the Authority also upheld, though only in part, a complaint about a discussion on TVNZ's Marae show about freedom of expression in the wake of provocateur Posie Parker's visit to New Zealand.

Rainbow community activist Shaneel Lal had "strayed into the realm of personal attack," the BSA said - though not all its members considered it a breach of standards.

The BSA also considered a complaint about Mediawatch which was a response to our analysis of another decision made by another media complaints body.

The Media Council had found a Stuff news report about the safety of puberty blockers lacked balance. The BSA found the live Midweek Mediawatch discussion about that was sufficiently balanced and focused on the implications of the decision for journalists and it did not result in unfairness…

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details