AMY TAYLOR AGAINST NEWSHUB

Overview

CASE NO: 3180

RULING BY THE NEW ZEALAND MEDIA COUNCIL ON THE COMPLAINT OF AMY TAYLOR AGAINST NEWSHUB

FINDING: INSUFFICIENT GROUNDS TO PROCEED

DATE: DECEMBER 2021

Newshub published an article on November 8, 2021, headlined Review: Milked is a brave but deeply flawed expose on New Zealand’s dairy industry.

Amy Taylor complained about some criticisms in the review. The headline saying it was deeply flawed was an exaggeration. She also objected to comments that recycled old animal cruelty videos added little to the film’s main message and that the film had major integrity issues.

“In our view, the reviewer was trying to discredit the film but without legitimate reason.”

The complaint was not upheld by Newshub’s Standards Committee. It said it was widely accepted and well-understood by readers that film reviews contained the opinions of the reviewer.

The committee said the points raised all relate to the opinions presented by the reviewer, the material facts on which those opinions were based were accurate and the opinions were clearly distinguishable.

As for the headline this was an accurate representation of the content of the article.

The Media Council accepted the point made by the Standards Committee that the film review was the opinion of the reviewer.

The reviewer assessed the film from the point of view of its artistic merit rather than the merits of the case it made.

It was identified as opinion and the complainant has not proven that the opinions expressed did not have a factual foundation.

There were insufficient grounds to proceed.