Photo: RNZ / Nate McKinnon
The Broadcasting Standards Authority has issued two decisions about RNZ's news coverage.
In the first, Sef Truijens complained about the language used by a political editor in a segment on Morning Report. The Newsroom journalist said 'We've seen this kind of… struggle between the three of them, who gets to have the say, who's in charge on what issue, and Christopher Luxon, again, trying to walk that line and pull them back into line, but not piss either of them off too much, you know, and that's what he was trying to do here'.
The BSA ruled that, in light of its 'Complaints that are unlikely to succeed' guidance and previous decisions on low-level offensive language, the Authority considered it appropriate to decline to determine this complaint.
In the second case, Neville Watkin complained about an RNZ news bulletin which reported comments by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the President of the Republic of Türkiye. Erdoğan accused Israel of 'aim[ing] to sabotage' nuclear negotiations between the United States and Iran through its airstrikes on Iran on 13 June 2025.
Mr Watkin alleged Erdoğan's comments were untrue and that the broadcast was misleading by not detailing 'the true sequence of events leading to Israel's attack on Iran'. The BSA found the brief, straightforward item did not amount to a 'discussion' for the purposes of the balance standard. It also found Erdoğan's comments were analysis, comment, or opinion to which the accuracy standard does not apply, and the broadcast was not inaccurate or misleading by omission.
The full decisions can be found here: Truijens and Radio New Zealand Ltd - 2025-044 (23 September 2025); Watkin and Radio New Zealand Ltd - 2025-041 (23 September 2025)
