Hager article ruled misleading by regulator

The Online Media Standards Authority has ruled:

An article published by Television New Zealand (TVNZ) on its ONE News Now website alleged Complainant R. Thompson, specifically advised his clients to avoid countries with “information sharing agreements” with New Zealand and instructed his clients to avoid any countries that might enter into double tax agreement with New Zealand. …

The Committee ruled the reference to “specifically advised” was misleading as it was not adequately substantiated and was in breach of Standard 1 Accuracy and was Upheld.

This article published by TVNZ was one they specifically paid for, and how has been found to be misleading.

The Complaints Committee considered the Complainant should have been contacted prior to the article being published. It held as this had not occurred, the article lacked a reasonable range of viewpoints and the Complainant was not treated fairly, in breach of Standard 2 Balance and Standard 3 Fairness.

There is a history here of not giving the subjects of pieces an ability to comment prior to publication.

So overall the piece by Hager, and published by TVNZ was found to be inaccurate, unbalanced and unfair.