ANTON ten HOVE AGAINST STUFF
Case Number: 2679
Council Meeting: JULY 2018
Decision: No Grounds to Proceed
Publication: Stuff
Ruling Categories: Offensive Language
Overview
CASE NO: 2679
NEW ZEALAND MEDIA COUNCIL RULING ON THE COMPLAINT OF ANTON ten HOVE AGAINST STUFF
FINDING: NO GROUNDS TO PROCEED
Anton ten Hove complained that a phrase “Anika Moa is a God-damned national treasure …” is offensive and blasphemous.
The article was reviewing a television special Anika Moa Unleashed and the reviewer was clearly impressed.
Mr ten Hove said use of the capital G meant this was a clear reference to the Christian God, and the reviewer chose this rather than Allah or Yahweh. This was used just to attract attention but use of the vulgarity was offensive to him and from a Christian perspective blasphemous.
The Media Council notes that the copy of the article it has been able to access uses a small g, but capital G or not it makes little difference to its view that this complaint has no merit.
Anika Moa is robust in her own views and language, as the review notes, and the writer may have been reflecting this in the intro, but the Council finds that God-damned or god-damned carries a low level of offensiveness or indeed none to many people.
Ruling: No Grounds to Proceed.