A good win for Newsroom

Newsroom has won in the Court of Appeal over whether it can make available its video exposing the then practice of reverse uplifts because the faster parents were the wrong ethnicity.

A key quote:

The story was unquestionably one of significant public interest, as evidenced by the impact it had on the Minister and the suspension of the practice of reverse uplifts. It is reasonable to assume that the suspension of Oranga Tamariki’s practice would not have happened — or at least would not have happened so quickly — had it not been for the powerful impact of the video. It was powerful precisely because it depicted the real life effects of the reverse uplift policy and the associated raw emotion. Clearly too, the foster parents’ concerns about the way they were treated by Oranga Tamariki were valid and worthy of ventilation. The right of freedom of expression must encompass not only the rights of the media but also the rights of the foster parents to tell their story and the right of the public to hear it.

This is a win for media, but also for the foster parents.