RICHARD BENTON AGAINST STUFF

Richard Benton complained about a story published by Stuff on May 26, 2021 under the headline Covid-19: New Zealand ‘highly vulnerable’ to a large outbreak – experts. The story referred to a sudden rise in cases in Taiwan which went from reporting single-digit Covid-19 cases to a record high of 723 new cases on Saturday.

Mr Benton said the number was false and misleading as the Saturday figure included 400 cases aggregated over the previous six days.

Stuff responded saying the story discussed the number of cases that were reported on the Saturday, not the number of cases for which a positive test was received during that 24 hour period.

The Stuff article focussed on the threat of a large outbreak in New Zealand. It used the latest figure available when it stated Taiwan had reported 723 new cases on the Saturday. The figure included cases that had been recorded, but not reported, from previous days. Where a seven day running average figure might have given a more accurate picture, the figure reported was not false.

There are insufficient grounds to proceed.