Rudi du Plooy against the Waikato Business News
Case Number: 3796
Council Meeting: 13 October 2025
Decision: Not Upheld
Publication: Waikato Business News
Principle:
Accuracy, Fairness and Balance
Headlines and Captions
Conflicts of Interest
Ruling Categories:
Accuracy
Balance, Lack Of
Conflict of Interest
Headlines and Captions
Unfair Coverage
Overview
1. The Waikato Business News, in its September 2025 edition, profiled four of the 12 candidates standing for the Hamilton mayoralty. Rudi du Plooy (a Mayoral candidate) complains citing Principles (1), (6) and (10).
The Article
2. The cover page of the September edition of the Waikato Business News leads with the headline Pick Three and the headshots of nine Mayoral candidates standing for election for the Waikato, Waipā and Hamilton districts. The accompanying text outlines the challenges successful candidates may face once elected.
3. The article continues on page seven under the heading Communities at the Crossroads with further explanation of potential challenges for successful candidates and the description of ten questions that were put to eight candidates.
4. On pages 10 and 11, under the heading Meet the Mayoral Candidates – Hamilton, the head shot, short bio and answers to the ten questions for four Hamilton mayoral candidates are presented. On pages 12 and 13 under the headlines Meet the Mayoral Candidates – Waikato and Meet the Mayoral Candidates – Waipā, two Waikato candidates are profiled, along with three from Waipā.
The Complaint
5. Rudi du Plooy complains that only four candidates are profiled without any explanation as to the selection criteria for excluded candidates. There are a total of 12 candidates contesting the Hamilton Mayoralty (a breach of Principle (1) Accuracy, Fairness and Balance).
6. He also argues that the headline is misleading and confusing as voters only have one vote for a single candidate (a breach of Principle (6) Headlines and Captions).
7. He also complains that the approach of excluding eight candidates mirrors that taken at a Waikato Chamber of Commerce and Waikato Times event and, given two current staff of the Waikato Business News were previously employed by the Waikato Times, there is a conflict of interest (breach of Principle (10) Conflicts of Interest).
The Response
8. The Waikato Business News responds to the accusation that it has selectively promoted candidates without context by stating it has no obligation to profile all candidates and that it is common media practice to focus on candidates who have a track record of attracting votes.
9. The editor states that the headline is not misleading as it refers to the fact that voters will select a total of three mayors across the three electorates. While conceding that the nine headshots on the front page could have been accompanied by a caption like ‘these contenders are among the contenders for three powerhouse positions,’ he argues not doing so will not have influenced voters.
10. Finally, the editor argues there is no conflict of interest or co-ordinated actions between the Waikato Business News and Waikato Times. Both chose a similar strategy of profiling the candidates likely to attract the most votes, the editor whose interests were questioned left the Times a decade before, and a previous work history with another publication does not automatically generate conflicts, indeed, as he points out, many journalists in New Zealand have worked for a range of publications.
The Discussion
11. First, the issue of alleged conflict of interests should be addressed. That two publications took a similar approach to profiling candidates, and current employees had worked for the other publication, is not evidence of conflict of interest or any form of collusion.
12. Second, the Media Council can find no issue with the headline. It recognises that headlines need to be brief and succinct. Read along with the accompanying text, the reader should be clear that there are three mayoral positions being contested in the district.
13. The issue of profiling four out of 12 candidates deserves careful consideration. In introducing the approach to profiling candidates, the Waikato Business News states that it “opted to profile four of the 12 mayoral candidates following the Waikato Chamber of Commerce’s lead” (page seven).
14. This provides the reader with no background or rationale for the selection of the four candidates, other than a local business organisation did the same, nor does it mention the names of the excluded candidates.
15. While the Waikato Business News is correct in that there is no obligation on it to profile all candidates, the Media Council believes
that article would have been improved if the reader understood the rationale for excluding eight candidates. It would have been further
improved with a more accurate caption for the nine profile photographs on the front page.
The media holds an important role in the functioning of our democratic processes, and as such editors owe their readers an explanation and
some transparency as to their decisions around such things as profiling or not candidates.
16. However, the complaint is not upheld as the Council acknowledges the need for editors to balance their publication’s role in fair elections with limited column space and their decisions about best serving the public interest.
Decision: The complaint is not upheld under Principles (1), (6) and (10).
Council members considering the complaint were Hon Raynor Asher (Chair), Hank Schouten, Tim Watkin, Guy MacGibbon, Scott Inglis, Deborah
Morris, Jo Cribb, Marie Shroff, Alison Thom, Richard Pamatatau