PETER WAKEMAN AGAINST RNZ

Peter Wakeman complained about a BBC story published by RNZ on 12 March 2024, headlined Gaza aid ship sets off from Cyprus. It reported a ship leaving Cyprus carrying 200 tonnes of food relief organised by the World Central Kitchen charity.

Mr Wakeman said the story did not mention that insufficient aid was getting into Gaza because the Israelis controlled Gaza’s borders. Nor did it mention that the population was being starved and bombed by Israel with US support.

His broader complaint was that RNZ’s coverage was biased, inaccurate and unbalanced and did not give sufficient scrutiny to the role of Israel, the United States and the United Kingdom.

“Failure to have a narrative and/or fairness to show the perpetrators of alleged genocide in your coverage is a failure in my view to not adhere to Media Council’s Statement of Principles.”

He also claimed there was a conflict of interest. In his view RNZ was not undertaking independent journalism on the Gaza because New Zealand was a partner in the Five Eyes spy network. Britain was also a partner in the network and therefore anything coming from the BBC or Reuters required due diligence and other checks. He believed RNZ should do its own research and write its own articles rather than rely on articles published overseas.

RNZ said it could not agree with the essence of the complaint. The article reported the recent development of an aid ship leaving a port in Cyprus, on the day the article was published.

“While you would have preferred other content addressing Israel’s position to be covered in the story, there is nothing in the Media Council’s principles that say that every aspect of an ongoing situation needs to covered in each and every story published on a topic such as the ongoing conflict in Gaza,” said RNZ.

The Media Council agrees that it is not realistic or practical to detail the background and cover all aspects of a complex, fast developing conflict every day a new development is reported. This was a new story set against the background of very many news articles covering the war in Gaza from both sides.

Reference to just one story in the months since the war in Gaza began in October 2023 does not provide sufficient evidence to support a claim that RNZ has breached Media Council Principle (1) which requires publications to be accurate, fair and balanced. It has not been suggested this story was inaccurate and the Media Council has long held that balance can be provided over time and not just assessed on the content of one story.

Nor is there evidence to show RNZ has a conflict of interest. RNZ’s Charter requires it to be an independent public service broadcaster and there is no indication that has been compromised by New Zealand’s partnership in the Five Eyes Network.  The perception of a conflict is too remote.

There are no grounds to proceed.