BRAD LIPS AGAINST TVNZ
Case Number: 3527
Council Meeting: 21 June 2024
Decision: Upheld
Publication: TVNZ
Principle: Accuracy, Fairness and Balance
Ruling Categories:
Misrepresentation
Right of Reply
Politics
Racism
Overview
- On 22 December 2023, TVNZ published a programme from Mata Reports called Trick or Treaty? - Indigenous Rights, Referendums and the Treaty of Waitangi on the 1News website, the TVNZ+ platform and the 1News YouTube channel. Brad Lips, CEO of the Atlas Network, complains that the programme breaches Principle (1) Accuracy Fairness and Balance.
- The complaint is upheld on the grounds of lack of fairness, because the Atlas Network was not approached for comment and TVNZ’s amendment was inadequate. All other aspects of the complaint are not upheld.
The Article
- The 25-minute episode featured politicians, campaigners, academics and commentators discussing the Voice to Parliament referendum in Australia and what could happen in New Zealand if there was a referendum on the Treaty of Waitangi. The written introduction to the video said the fate of the Treaty was “teetering on the brink of a popular vote”. The Australian Indigenous Voice to Parliament referendum was a cautionary tale, the introduction said, “highlighting the precarious nature of safeguarding indigenous rights when subject to majority decision-making”.
- The programme also explored the role of the Atlas Network saying: “Advance Australia is just one of the many right wing think tanks with links to the little known global organisation the Atlas Network.” It goes on to name some of the think tanks it says are linked to the Atlas Network and features academic Dr Jeremy Walker who says: “One thing that is consistent across all these Atlas Network think tanks is that they will oppose anything that gets in the way of the fossil fuel industry. Whether it is climate policy or indigenous land rights.”
The Complaint
- On March 21, 2024, Mr Lips complained to TVNZ regarding the Mata Reports Trick or Treaty? - Indigenous Rights, Referendums and the Treaty of Waitangi programme. Mr Lips said that via a series of selectively chosen interviews and explicit statements by the episode’s presenter the programme misled viewers by leaving them with the impression that the Atlas Network was involved in campaigning against the Voice to Parliament in the recent Australian Referendum and that they did so at the behest of the resource industry.
- In his complaint, Mr Lips disputes a number of statements raised in the episode and offers the following clarifications:
- That Atlas Network is not a partner of Advance Australia.
- That Atlas Network does not receive any funding from oil and gas companies, and that oil and gas companies do not have any influence over their current policy positions.
- That Atlas Network does not oppose climate policy or indigenous land rights.
- That Atlas Network did not have any role in the Voice debate and did not have any coordinating role during the campaign.
- Mr Lips elaborated on a number of statements from the video he said were inaccurate and could mislead viewers. For example, the programme said “Advance Australia is just one of the many right-wing think tanks with links to the little-known global organisation, the Atlas Network.” This was factually incorrect as Advance Australia was not a partner of Atlas Network, Mr Lips said. The programme also stated: “Dr Walker studies the Atlas Network. He says it receives some of its funding from oil and gas interests who oppose indigenous rights that could threaten the fossil fuel industry.” This was incorrect, Mr Lips said as the Atlas Network did not receive any funding from oil and gas companies. Oil and gas companies did not have any influence over the Atlas Network’s current policy positions.
- Mr Lips said that TVNZ had not met its obligation to “make reasonable efforts to ensure news, current affairs and factual content is accurate in relation to all material points of fact and does not materially mislead the audience”. He said it was unprofessional that the producers had not attempted to contact the Atlas Network for clarification or comment. He requested that the video be removed from the TVNZ website and YouTube and that TVNZ correct the record.
- On April 20, 2024 Mr Lips lodged his complaint with the Media Council regarding this matter, after receiving clarification from the Council that it would consider his request and did not believe it had been lodged out of time.
The Response
- TVNZ says that while it did not accept Mr Lips’s initial formal complaint because they believed it had been made out of time under the Media Council guidelines, they did refer it to the news team. TVNZ says the news team engaged with Mr Lips over the issues he raised and made changes before he complained to the Media Council.
- TVNZ said that after receiving the complaint from Mr Lips they asked the producers of Mata Reports for a response to the points raised. TVNZ said it reviewed this response and found that references to the Atlas Network contained in the video were statements of facts, except for an honestly held opinion by academic Dr Walker who said the Atlas Network think tanks “oppose anything that gets in the way of the fossil fuel industry, whether it’s climate policy, whether it’s indigenous land rights”.
- TVNZ said it agreed the Atlas Network should have an opportunity to give its balancing view on Dr Walker’s comment regarding climate policy and indigenous land rights. TVNZ added a line beneath the episode on 1news.co.nz and the 1News YouTube channel on April 11, 2024, which read: “Update: Atlas Network says it does not oppose climate policy or indigenous land rights.”
- TVNZ said the TVNZ+ platform did not offer the word length available to add the above line so they removed the video from that platform on the same date. TVNZ emailed Mr Lips on April 11, 2024 to advise of the additional line being added below the episode.
- TVNZ replied to the various other disputed points raised by Mr Lips in turn, saying that they could all be substantiated, so because they were factual, there was no breach of Principle (1) and they did not require a response from the Atlas Network. For example, Mr Lips said Atlas Network did not have partners who were oil and gas companies or received any funding from oil and gas companies (the last time such funding was received was 15 years ago). TVNZ countered that the programme did not say the Atlas Network received funding from oil and gas companies; it said it received funding from oil and gas interests. TVNZ said it had evidence of several examples of this, including a donation of $570,000 to Atlas Economic Research Foundation (Atlas Network’s former name) in 2022 from the Sarah Scaife Foundation, which was financed from banking, industrial and oil fortunes. TVNZ also quoted a Guardian story saying Atlas had deep ties to oil and gas producers and said one of its partners was able to discourage the Canadian Government from supporting a UN declaration that would ensure greater involvement by indigenous communities. A US Atlas Network partner, the Cato Institute, had led campaigns to make Americans doubt if human-led climate change is real. TVNZ gave other examples of Atlas Network partners who had opposed climate change action.
- Mr Lips said Advance Australia was not a partner of the Atlas Network, but the programme did not claim this, said TVNZ. It said Advance Australia had links to the Atlas Network - and Advance Australia spokespeople Warren Mundine and Jacinta Price were both connected with The Centre of Independent Studies, linked to the Atlas Foundation. Mr Lips said the Atlas Network did not have any role in the Voice debate, but TVNZ said the programme did not say this - Atlas partners did have a role, for example The Centre of Independent Studies backed the “no” vote.
The Discussion
- The Media Council considered a different complaint about this episode of Mata Reports Trick or Treaty? Indigenous Rights, Referendums, and the Treaty of Waitangi earlier in 2024. In that ruling 3508 Robin Grieve against TVNZ, the complaint was not upheld.
- However, Mr Lips’s complaint concerns a completely different matter to the previous complaint. The Council considers there are two important issues at stake in Mr Lips’s complaint. Firstly, did the programme contain any factual errors as suggested by Mr Lips. Secondly, should the Atlas Network have been approached for comment.
- The Council has considered the detailed defence TVNZ has given to all the factual inaccuracies Mr Lips alleges and believes that TVNZ has convincingly defended the statements Mr Lips complains about. The Council notes that in Mr Lips’s final comment he does not dispute the detailed evidence TVNZ provided but repeated his statements that the Atlas Network had no role in the Australian Voice Referendum, did not receive funding from oil and gas companies and did not and would not have any role in New Zealand domestic politics, including the Treaty of Waitangi.
- The Council considered whether the Atlas Network should have been offered a right of reply. Dr Walker said: “One thing that is consistent across all these Atlas Network think tanks is that they will oppose anything that gets in the way of the fossil fuel industry. Whether it is climate policy or indigenous land rights.” TVNZ decided that even though this was an academic’s honestly held opinion, it should have given the Atlas Network a chance to respond. Given the programme’s overwhelmingly negative tone about think tanks with links to the Atlas Network and Dr Walker’s sweeping statement on the subject, the Council agrees that it would have been fair to give the Atlas Network a right of reply.
- The Media Council supports the important role investigative journalism holds in our society and applauds the often difficult work it takes. In this case, by a narrow margin, we find that there was a breach of Principle (1) Accuracy, Fairness and Balance, not on the grounds of accuracy, but on the grounds that it was unfair not to allow the Atlas Network to respond to the negative opinion expressed about it.
- Following Mr Lips’s complaint, TVNZ added a single line of text below the video. It was not labelled as a correction, or clarification, but as an update. The Media Council considers that the single line did not adequately address the lack of fairness that resulted from not inviting the Atlas Network to respond.
- The complaint is upheld on fairness under Principle (1) Accuracy, Fairness and Balance because TVNZ did not contact the Atlas Network for a response before publishing the programme, or adequately remedy this breach of fairness after being contacted by the complainant. All other aspects of the complaint are not upheld.
Council members considering the complaint were Hon Raynor Asher (Chair), Alison Thom, Ben France-Hudson, Clio Francis, Hank Schouten, Jo Cribb, Judi Jones, Marie Shroff and Rosemary Barraclough.
Council member Tim Watkin declared a conflict of interest and withdrew from the meeting.