This piece from Campbell Live says it all really.
This piece from Campbell Live says it all really.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 28th, 2009 at 10:47 pm and is filed under broadcasting, economy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Definitely free advertising.
Good idea/bad idea. Evidences bias/creative freedom, etc. There’s a debate to be had, but I’m particularly interested in the following
Yes or No: Who here believes the ad “promotes the National Party”? And will anyone who answers “yes” back up their words with a complaint to the Electoral Commission under Part 6 of the Broadcasting Act?
Yes I do, and I don’t know if I’ll lay a complaint.
I think I will look into how to lay a complaint.
Broadcasting standards also apply.
They do, but none of them have been breached. This is a promo, not a news or current affairs programme.
I do – how do I complain about it?
e-mail the Electoral Commission, tell them you want to lay a complaint, include a link to the video on youtube, tell them it has aired on TVNZ and you think that it’s a election programme because it promotes the National Party. Wait =)
I thought it would breach the fairness and balance standard.
spud – fairness and balance is only required in news and current affairs programmes. This is an ad for a current affairs programme, not a current affairs programme itself.
The debate that TVNZ7 is holding will have to be fair and balanced, but it hasn’t aired yet, and I don’t think we’ve any reason to believe it won’t be.
Graeme Edgeler – promos are ‘programmes’ for the purposes of broadasting standards.
I agree that promos are programmed. Thus my statement that the broadcasting standards do apply. However, not all broadcasting standards apply to all programmes. In particular the broadcasting standard requiring balance is premised on the following:
When discussing controversial issues of public importance in news, current affairs or factual programmes…
All programmes must abide by standards of taste and decency. Only some programmes are required to be balanced.
I do agree that the promo is a programme; I dispute that it is a news, current affairs or factual programme. It is a promo for a current affairs programme, but I don’t believe that is enough. The balance standard does not apply to this promo.
“I dispute that it is a news, current affairs or factual programme.” – I agree, if it’s biased it could potentially be classified as a work of fiction.
I think the recession is of public importance, IMNSHO.
GE – where in the standards does it except promos from the definition of ‘news, current affairs or factual programmes’? I couldn’t find anything. I agree, it may be a grey area but nothing says it doesn’t apply.
Of course, you could just argue it was an ad masquerading as a programme, which would potentially breach another standard…
Its a brilliant advert!!!
I emailed TVNZ and asked them to show other promos to provide balance, for example opposition politicians or a person made redundant. I received the following form letter reply as follows:
Hi there
Thank you for taking the time to email us.
The promo is designed to tell viewers about TVNZ 7’s Focus on the Economy across the month of November.
It is scheduled to play a few more times and is being phased out while a new promo is phased in that includes specific detail about the debates and economy focused programmes screening from next week.
Focus on the Economy kicks off with a debate hosted by Guyon Espiner looking at National’s first year in government and includes Bill English, David Cunliffe and Roger Douglas.
I invite you to have a look at the programmes we have scheduled so you may see for yourself that they don’t have a particular political bias.
Click on the link below or email me your postal address and I can send you a brochure.
http://tvnz.co.nz/tvnz7economy
Thanks again for your email.
@kat – yep English is certainly getting his money’s worth, oh wait it’s tax payer money
Tigger – the standards don’t say that promos aren’t current affairs programmes, it’s just that they aren’t.
There are BSA rulings on what constitutes current affairs. They certainly haven’t said that promos are current affairs (though I suspect they’d find that one-minute news breaks were news), but you can get an idea of what they consider to be current affairs in the decision here: http://www.bsa.govt.nz/decisions/2004/2004-069.htm (para 38).
I can’t see how a promo fits within their definition. It’s not even close.