Warning: This article may disturb some people.
SKY TV has been ordered to pay $4000 for broadcasting "extensive excerpts" from the alleged Christchurch shooter's livestream of the mosque massacre.
On Tuesday the Broadcasting Standards Authority (BSA) released its decisions on four complaints made about New Zealand media coverage of the March 15 terror attack.
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Only one has been upheld, against Sky News New Zealand. The channel was found to have aired "highly disturbing" clips from the livestream that should not have been broadcast.
"The use of extensive excerpts from the alleged attacker's livestream video on Sky News New Zealand had the potential to cause significant distress to audiences in New Zealand, and particularly to the family and friends of victims, and the wider Muslim community," the BSA said in its ruling.
"The Authority found that the level of public interest in the detailed depictions of violence shown in the clips from the livestream video was not proportionate to the high level of harm that could be caused to viewers."
The BSA acknowledged that the broadcaster of Sky News New Zealand, SKY NZ, has only limited editorial control over the foreign pass-through news channel, but said more needed to be done to mitigate the potential for harm in broadcasting the clips.
SKY NZ has been ordered to pay $4000 in costs to the Crown.
The three complaints not upheld by the BSA were all made about TVNZ's coverage, which broadcast a "very brief excerpt" from the livestream as well as footage of identifiable victims as they were taken into hospital, some visibly wounded.
"Taking into account the unprecedented circumstances and the high level of public interest in the coverage, the Authority did not uphold the complaints about 1 News," the BSA said.
The BSA intends to engage with broadcasters in future to determine whether New Zealand's existing broadcasting standards are of adequate guidance in covering extreme situations such as the Christchurch attack.
Four days after the shooting, the Chief Censor labelled the livestream footage "objectionable" material and made it illegal to distribute.
Newshub.
