Hoadley v Stuff

COURT OR TRIBUNAL

New Zealand Media Council

DATE FILED (OR FIRST HEARING DATE)

27/03/2023

LITIGATION TYPE

Corporate Accountability

SUBJECT MATTER

Misleading and deceptive conduct

REVIEW TYPE

N/A

SUMMARY

(Extract from judgment)

[1] On February 14, 2023, Stuff published a story headed: Does Cyclone Gabrielle have you thinking about climate change? You’re not the only one. The story said recent weather events made the impact of climate change harder to ignore. The story offered a “quick guide to the basics” with tips for action on climate change. It covered how climate change was linked to cyclones, what was causing climate change, and asked what New Zealand could do to help. It linked to other stories that provided more information on these topics.

[2] Richard Hoadley complained that the story breached Principle (1) in that it did not provide fair, accurate or balanced information and deliberately misled readers by omission. The story failed to provide an opposition view. The subject was clearly controversial “due to conflicting data that Stuff is not making available to the readers in this article”.

…

[5] The Media Council repeats its view that Stuff’s policy on reporting climate change as outlined above does not breach any Council principles.

[6] It also repeats its finding from case 2470 (Neil Henderson against The Gisborne Herald) where the Council noted:

[7] “The Council's principles also allow an exception from the requirement for balance for long running issues where the various views have been well canvassed. Climate change has now become such an issue”.

CASE DOCUMENTS

Hoadley v Stuff [2023] NZMediaC 3393