The BSA and the 'Guns And Drugs' Ruling

Media 7 Panel Criticises BSA Over 'Guns And Drugs' Ruling

www.pacmediawatch.aut..ac.nz

AUCKLAND (Pacific Media Watch): Commentators on the Media 7 show last night criticised the Broadcasting Standards Authority ruling against a controversial Television New Zealand programme about gangs, guns and drugs, saying the BSA had "got it wrong".

Tim Pankhurst, chief executive of the Newspapers Publishing Association and chairman of the Commonwealth Press Union's Media Freedom Committee, said the Samoan government had hired expensive lawyers to "pursue and bully" the complaint to defend its tourism industry.

Pacific correspondent Barbara Dreaver had reported on criminal gangs, drugs and weapon smuggling in Samoa in reports broadcast on One News on 6 April 2009 and also on Tagata Pasifika.

The Samoan Attorney-General's Office filed a complaint over the balance, accuracy and fairness broadcasting standards and this was upheld by the BSA last month, but a complaint over law and order was not upheld.

Costs were awarded against TVNZ of $5000 for the Samoan government and $2000 for the Crown.

Following a bank holdup by masked gunmen in Apia last week, the Samoa Observer yesterday published an editorial saying Samoans should now "breathe a sigh of relief" over the TVNZ issue.

"But how ironic. Here we are demanding an apology for a story about guns and drugs and yet in Samoa today, we’ve got a serious problem with the wide availability of firearms. Drugs - marijuana especially - [have] been a problem for a long time.

"Just last week, masked men – which reminded us of the masked men in Dreaver’s story – walked into Westpac Bank and held staff members there at gunpoint. They demanded the money and off they went with some $240,000."

Asked by Media 7 host Russell Brown for his response to the BSA ruling, former Dominion Post editor tim Pankhurst said: "You have to roll with these [decisions] but I think the [BSA] got it wrong.

"It is hugely relevant that [the complaint] was brought by the government and they were prepared to go to the extent of hiring very expensive lawyers here in Auckland to pursue and bully this case.

"I assume the motive was to protect the tourism industry."

Another panellist, Pacific Media Centre director associate professor David Robie, said governments using the regulatory bodies to curb media freedom are "a bit of a worrying trend in the Pacific although two examples yet don't make a pattern".

He was also referring to an earlier complaint by the Fiji government upheld by the BSA against Fairfax journalist Michael Field.

"But I do want to say something about Barbara's case," Dr Robie said.

"I was at a media freedom conference in Samoa last year not long after the controversy blew up and I remember Barbara being attacked - in her absence - by several Samoan journalists and I actually spoke out strongly in her support.

"One of the very worrying things about the whole episode is how a number of journalists singled her out and who seemed to have become propagandists for the Samoan government overnight.

"Essentially here was a vendetta and I wrote about this in my blog Cafe Pacific."

"Like Tim, I also thought the BSA had got it wrong."

Asked by host Russell Brown what her response was, Dreaver replied: "Obviously I am personally unhappy with the BSA decision but I totally stand by my story, and so does TVNZ.

"At the end of the day, with a BSA decision, win or lose, it does not affect how I do my job.

"It is not the first time I have upset a government and it won't be the last. I am just going to keep doing my job."

Television NZ spokesperson Megan Richards told Pacific Media Watch it had decided not to continue with an appeal in spite of standing by the story because of high legal costs involved and "it's a bit of a lottery".

A statement would be carried by the public broadcaster under the terms of the BSA ruling.

* Media 7 - Pacific media freedom edition http://tvnz.co.nz/media7/show-2747237
* BSA ruling on the Samoan crime and guns story
www.bsa.govt.nz/decisions/2009/2009-066.html

* Comment on this item www.pacific.scoop.co.nz

ENDS

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