DENNIS MCLEOD AGAINST THE NEW ZEALAND HERALD
Case Number: 3234
Council Meeting: March 2022
Decision: No Grounds to Proceed
Principle:
Ruling Categories:
Accuracy
Balance, Lack Of
Columnists Opinion
Discrimination
Offensive Language
Covid
Overview
The New Zealand Herald ran an opinion piece in its business section on February 28, 2022, headlined Sasha Borissenko: Health sector strike looms amid Omicron wave.
Dennis McLeod said the article started off by referring to some news events calling the protesters at Parliament “a cesspit of anti-mandate protesters, before turning to the subject of the article, a pending Health Sector strike.
He asked: “What sort of reporting is this, when a reporter tells the public what to think about protesters, right or wrong. This is not reporting it is indoctrinating the public into her way of thinking.”
The Media Council notes this article was not a news item or presented as such. It was by-lined and clearly marked as opinion. It is widely understood that opinion pieces are an expression of the writer’s own views.
Decision: There were insufficient grounds to proceed.