Frank Newman against the Northern Advocate

The Northern Advocate published an article on October 7, 2025, titled Funding boost and tough targets as NorthTec faces 2026 viability goal.

The story reported that NorthTec had been granted more than $3 million in funding from the Tertiary Education Commission amid the polytechnic’s battle to achieve viability. It was illustrated with a photo of a large group of polytechnic stakeholders assembled outside at the NorthTec Marae where they met to discuss future strategy.

Frank Newman complained that it was inappropriate to use this image as some of the people in the crowd were holding “vote Māori wards” signs.

He said the signage that is unrelated to both the purpose of the meeting and the content of the article, conveyed the impression that Māori wards were discussed at the meeting, and readers were  likely to be left with the impression that members attending the meeting support the retention of Māori wards.

The Northern Advocate said it stood by its use of the photo which its reporter took to show the range of people who attended the meeting. The meeting was at a marae and there was reason to expect some of the people attended would support Māori wards and they were free to express that view.

It added the purpose of the meeting was set out clearly by the headline immediately above the photo and its publication did not breach Media Council Principle (11) Photographs and Graphics.

The Media Council noted that while Māori ward signs were held by two people on the edges of the gathering, there was no evidence that readers were misled by this. Clearly their message was unrelated to the purpose of the meeting which was made plain in the headline, caption and story.  Publication of the photo was not in breach of journalistic ethics as set out in the Council’s Principles.

Decision:  No grounds to proceed.