Herald statement

Shayne Currie, Editor of NZ Herald has released a statement on how the story was reported:

Rachel Glucina approached the Hip Group yesterday, after The Daily Blog broke the story. She knows the Hip Group owners personally.

Glucina wanted to follow-up The Daily Blog post and urged the couple to front-foot the issue.

She spoke to the couple and the waitress over the telephone. Regardless of any confusion over the initial approach, all three agreed they wanted to make a public statement.

They also agreed to pose for a photograph and a Herald photographer was dispatched. They were told by the photographer that the photo would be appearing in the Herald.

Herald editor Shayne Currie also spoke to the owners of the Hip Group yesterday afternoon following a call from a PR firm that had already been helping them.

"When I spoke to the owners, they told me they had initially thought Rachel was working on a statement to go to all media, along with the photograph.

"Given the situation, I wanted to absolutely ensure they knew this interview and photograph were for the Herald. To further ease any concerns, we took the very rare step of agreeing Rachel should run the quotes past the parties before publication.

"By then, no one was in any doubt that the article, quotes and photograph would be appearing in the Herald."

Herald Link

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