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Trustworthy media
Mahurangi Matters is naturally pleased that a complaint made about the newspaper to the New Zealand Media Council has failed to succeed. Moreover, it’s approach to the story “Brothers dispute threatens boatyard”, which appeared last year, has been vindicated, see story.
Although the complaint of Martin Robertson was not upheld, the fact that he was able to make it before a body independent of the paper is a useful reminder that newspapers in New Zealand need to observe high standards in the way they report. If they don’t, they face embarrassing exposure of their failings, with a resultant loss of prestige and confidence in their publication.
Newspapers, such as Mahurangi Matters, that have signed up to abide by Media Council rulings, must strive to be accurate, fair and balanced in their reporting. They must not deliberately mislead or misinform readers. They must make clear distinctions between fact and opinion and material on which opinion is based must be accurate. They must be respectful of people’s privacy and sensitive in their reporting when children are involved.
Hence, when Mahurangi Matters became aware of Mr Robertson’s complaint it was obliged to do some soul searching. Were we fair? Were we balanced? Were we accurate? Is there anything we should correct? In hindsight, could we have done things better? Are there any learnings to improve things in the future? All these are useful questions to ask, and while Mahurangi Matters does not exactly relish dealing with Media Council complaints, it recognises that they have a value in keeping the paper true to the principles it endeavours to observe.
Do all media follow the kind of principles the Media Council espouses? Sadly not. Today, there are a proliferation of media outlets, especially online, which are accountable to no one. Freed from the requirement to be accurate, fair and balanced, they often feature truly astonishing stories related to politics, global conspiracies and Covid-19. In the online news world, it pays to be wary.
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