Clare André against Radio New Zealand

Radio New Zealand published an article on June 9, 2025, headlined Greta Thunberg’s aid ship warned to turn back or face the Israeli military.

The article reported Israeli forces boarded a charity vessel that was planning to reach the Gaza Strip in defiance of an Israeli naval blockade.  It reported comment from Greta Thunberg and fellow passengers, including a European MP as well as Israel’s Defence Minister, who called the mission a propaganda effort in support of Hamas.

The story mentioned attacks on earlier aid ships and reported humanitarian groups’ concerns that Israel was restricting aid to Gaza. It also reported a number of people had been shot at aid distribution sites in previous days with witnesses reporting Israeli Defence Forces had fired on Palestinians scrambling to access aid. The article was by-lined by an ABC News reporter, but attribution was also given to Reuters, and AFP.

Clare André said the article did not offer fair or balanced reporting about the war in Gaza. It misled readers in a number of ways and did not adequately distinguish fact from comment.

It reported allegations by an activist that Israel was prepared to commit war crimes and also carried denials by Israel. This was a false comparison as it ignored the fact the activist’s statement was supported by the assessment of agencies such as the United Nations International Commission the UN Human Rights Chief, Amnesty International and the UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

She said reporting that dozens had been killed in recent days at aid distribution sites misled readers to a high degree as to the scale of death in Gaza at the hands of Israel. She added that if the October 7 massacres was seen as a trigger event for the Israelis only, balanced reporting would have also referred to other triggers such as the occupation of Palestinian land.

The October 7 massacre was stated as fact, but Palestinian deaths were qualified by the authority that reported them.

“This gives the impression that the numbers of Israeli dead are fact and that the number of Palestinian dead is conjecture or an estimate. It is important to say why these numbers are uncertain. That reason is that Gaza is still under siege and blockade. Further, Israel has refused journalists access to Gaza so reporting from foreign agencies is limited. Because of the continuing attacks and resultant deaths of Palestinians it is likely that the reported numbers of dead are far greater. This information is important so that readers realise the reason for the estimated number of dead: without the clarification readers might misinterpret that media is reporting that the authorities that report the numbers of Palestinian’s murdered by Israel are themselves unreliable. In the case of this article, the reporting authorities are the International Red Cross and the Palestinian Health Authority."

She also believed reporting on the provision of aid was one-sided.

“Israel’s Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) is quoted as describing their efforts to improve aid provision. There is no reporting of the aid recipients’ experiences. How much aid are they receiving? Is it sufficient? Do they feel safe going to the aid depts? The information these questions would elicit is necessary for fair reporting and is highly relevant to that article given the flotilla states its purpose is to deliver much needed aid directly to Palestinians. As it stands, the GHF is given much more authority than the people who are affected by the war, the blockade and the claimed provision of aid. This is unfair, inaccurate and biased."

In response RNZ acknowledged Ms André’s concerns but said that did not necessarily mean it was in breach of any of the Media Council's principles.

“We believe we provide our audience, over time, with a detailed understanding of the issues involved in the Middle East, and in particular in Gaza.

It had broadcast and published a wide range of information before the article mentioned in this complaint.

It cited the following articles:

March 24: Israeli airstrike kills Hamas official as Gaza death toll passes 50,000 | RNZ News

June 5: What's happening in Gaza 'worse than hell on earth': Red Cross | RNZ

June 13: United Nations overwhelmingly demands immediate Gaza ceasefire over US, Israel opposition | RNZ News

It also referred to an independent review into its coverage of the Middle East, which found that there was no reason for concern that RNZ was acting outside its own policy, the Media Council Principles or the standards administered by the Broadcasting Standards Authority.

The Media Council notes that the conflict in Gaza has been the subject of a lot of news coverage in the past two years. RNZ and other New Zealand media have often carried daily reports on developments in this war - the bombings, alleged atrocities, the blockade and the continuing humanitarian crisis in Gaza. They have reported attacks, casualties and the analysis and commentary of protagonists, observers and agencies that have been delivering aid, monitoring the situation and investigating alleged crimes against humanity.

Media Council Principle (1) says:

“Publications should be bound at all times by accuracy, fairness and balance, and should not deliberately mislead or misinform readers by commission or omission. In articles of controversy or disagreement, a fair voice must be given to the opposition view."

“Exceptions may apply for long-running issues where every side of an issue or argument cannot reasonably be repeated on every occasion and in reportage of proceedings where balance is to be judged on a number of stories, rather than a single report."

This means questions of fairness and balance need to be judged over time. In long-running stories like this it is not practical to recap events in every article. 

The Council notes that RNZ and other New Zealand media depend on news agencies to provide their international coverage. This article was drawn from ABC News, Reuters and AFP. These are reputable agencies with a lot of experience of covering wars as impartially as they can for a diverse international audience. This includes reporting what happens from day to day, verifying facts where they can and getting the comments of protagonists and observers.

Where information cannot be independently verified it is standard practice to clearly attribute a source. As agency reporters are barred from entering Gaza to do their own assessments they have relied on casualty numbers reported by the Gaza Health Ministry or the UN, which recently reported the toll has risen to over 59,000. Where it has not been possible to personally identify all those killed in Gaza the same does not apply to the verified death toll after Hamas and other Palestinian militants attacked Southern Israel on October 7, 2023.

Ms André makes a point that less weight should be given to Israeli denials that they had committed war crimes when the allegations were supported by reports from UN agencies. The Council notes the UN agencies’ findings have been reported previously. It also notes that it is standard practice for journalists to give all parties the opportunity to comment and respond to allegations made against them. This is the essence of fair reporting. This leaves it over to readers to draw their own conclusions as the factual realities become evident over time.

For the reasons set out above, the Media Council does not believe a case has been made to show the reportage has breached its Principles.

Decision:  No grounds to proceed.