NZ Media Council Upholds Complaint Against NZ Herald over election security story - NZ Herald

The Media Council has upheld a complaint against the Herald.

The NZ Media Council has upheld a complaint by Jeremy Verity against the NZ Herald over an article about security concerns at election campaign events, finding breaches of Principles (1) Accuracy, Fairness and Balance and (12) Corrections. The complaint arose from a report on a candidates’ meeting in Wadestown involving Labour MP Ayesha Verrall, which described Mr Verity and John Ansell as “agitators” and referred to police and a protective barrier being used around Dr Verrall.

Mr Verity said the article exaggerated events; wrongly implied police intervention was required because of his conduct, inaccurately described his involvement with the Stop Tiaki Wai movement, and relied solely on Dr Verrall’s account.

The NZ Herald rejected those claims, maintaining its reporting was accurate, that both Mr Verity and Mr Ansell publicly supported Stop Tiaki Wai, and that the description of Mr Verity as an “agitator” was justified. The newspaper also said it removed the word “frenzied” from the article to avoid confusion, although it was not intended to refer to Mr Verity.

After reviewing video footage, the Media Council found that descriptions of Dr Verrall being “accosted” and Mr Verity being an “agitator” were not inaccurate and that the newspaper was entitled to report Dr Verrall’s perception of the incident. However, it noted that there was an implication that those who approached Dr Verrall were “frenzied” was unsupported by evidence. It concluded the NZ Herald acted unfairly by identifying Mr Verity in a story about threats and intimidation of politicians without seeking his comment or providing an opportunity to respond, breaching Principle (1).

The Council also upheld the complaint under Principle (12), finding the newspaper was too slow to deal with concerns about the word “frenzied”, despite eventually amending the article and removing the word. The complaint was not upheld under the Privacy or Headlines and Captions Principles.

Four Media Council members dissented, considering there was insufficient evidence to support findings against the newspaper and that its response to the complaint was adequate.

The full Media Council ruling can be found here.

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