A Newshub story headlined Anti-vax bride's grandpa dies after she and Covid-positive groom continue with wedding despite 'textbook symptoms' ran in the health section of its online news site on 26 July this year.
The story was based on a social media post to Reddit, by a person claiming to be related to a couple who married while they had Covid symptoms. The post said the bride allegedly tested positive for the virus the night before the wedding. The upshot was that many guests fell ill and the bride's grandfather, who walked her up the aisle, contracted the virus and subsequently died. The poster alleges that the couple and extended family were unlikely to be vaccinated, supported former American President Donald Trump and were racist.
The Newshub writer used the post and comments from forum users together with Ministry of Health information about Covid vaccines to create a story which ran in Newshub's Health section.
Gaylene Barnes complained the Newshub 'health' story is based on a story linked to a post on Reddit by an anonymous blogger with an offensive username. She says the story appears to have been cross posted numerous times, the origins of the original story are unclear and has "obviously not been verified as fact". Neither Newshub nor the Council were able to verify any of the details of the anonymous post.
In response, Newshub said the article was clearly based on several posts and the opinions of the people involved and it was apparent throughout the story that it was an anecdote taken from a forum and not a verified news report. Newshub said readers could judge the integrity of these reported comments for themselves. However, Newshub said the article also contained Ministry of Health information about vaccines and these verifiable facts were distinct from the social media comments in the article.
In its decision, the Media Council finds Newshub failed to adhere to professional or ethical standards by taking a dubious story off a website and simply repeating it. It is not uncommon for news organisations to write stories based on social media posts but usually the facts are not in doubt and are able to be verified. This was not the case with this story and Newshub did nothing to establish it was right or that it was accurate, fair and balanced. The Media Council upheld the complaint under Principles (1) Accuracy, Fairness and Balance and (4) Comment and Fact.
The full Media Council ruling can be found on its website.
