CARY DRUMMOND AGAINST STUFF
Case Number: 3288
Council Meeting: JULY 2022
Decision: No Grounds to Proceed
Publication: Stuff
Principle: Accuracy, Fairness and Balance
Ruling Categories:
Supression of Fact
Court Reporting
Detail Needlessly Prejudicial
Obligation to Publish
Overview
Cary Drummond complained about a Stuff story about a mother’s struggle to get a product subsidised for her son’s medical condition. The fact that she had been convicted of burglary 10 years before should have been included, Drummond said, as people might have been less sympathetic and less likely to donate to her cause. Stuff said they did not believe her previous convictions were relevant to her current plea for help for her son.
The Media Council believes the mother’s decade-old criminal record is irrelevant, and to include it in a story about her son’s medical problems would have been completely inappropriate and possibly a breach of the Privacy principle. No principles have been breached.
Decision: There are insufficient grounds to proceed.