KEN ORR AGAINST THE PRESS

The Press published an article on 13 November 2023, headlined Surrogacy success after legal hurdles. The story was about a gay couple who had to go through a lengthy process to finally adopt their own child.

Ken Orr of the Right to Life organisation complained that the article breached Media Council Principle (1) Accuracy, Fairness and Balance.

He said The Press had a duty to promote the procreation of children within heterosexual marriage. In his view, surrogacy exploited women and was a form of human trafficking that violated the rights of the child to be conceived in the womb of its biological mother.

The Press responded that it had not received a complaint from Mr Orr. However, it had received a letter to the editor about the story which it had chosen not to publish.

The NZ Media Council notes that publication of letters is always matter of editorial discretion and the editor was within her rights not to publish it.

Mr Orr does not like surrogacy for gay couples and he is entitled to his views. But this was a factual article telling the surrogacy story of a couple and he did not provide any information to show how it was inaccurate, unfair or unbalanced.

Decision: There were no grounds to proceed.