ADRIAN DINSMORE AGAINST STUFF

Adrian Dinsmore complained after Stuff ran several stories about David Gaughan, a Christchurch brewer who said on a Facebook post that Maori men were New Zealand’s biggest problem and a “scourge”.

The story reported that beer stockists across New Zealand pulled his Eagle Brewing products from their shelves and made public statements condemning his racist comments. There were three stories which referred to it as a racist rant, although one went further with a headline which referred to Mr Gaughan as a “Racist brewery owner.”

Mr Dinsmore said it was unfair to label him as such instead of someone who made a racist comment. He believed this was an important distinction.

He noted that Mr Gaughan had apologised for his comment and was trying to make amends and Stuff’s reporting was unfair and out of order.

It is hard to sustain an argument that Stuff’s reporting was unfair.  Mr Gaughan made the racially offensive remarks and it is not unfair to describe a person who holds and expresses racist views as a racist.

There are insufficient grounds for this complaint to proceed.