Controversy
Some segments broadcast have received negative responses. After an item entitled "Fowl Play" aired on 20 September 2004 about battery farming of hens, the Egg Producers Federation of New Zealand (EPFNZ) complained to the Broadcasting Standards Authority. They claimed it was unbalanced, inaccurate and unfair, but the Authority did not uphold the complaint as the EPFNZ had failed to participate in the item.
In July 2005, an interview with Ashraf Choudhary, the only Muslim Member of Parliament in New Zealand was broadcast. In this Choudhary stated that he would not condemn the practise of stoning to death some homosexuals and people who have extramarital affairs.
A story broadcast in 2005 on the South Pacific received criticism from the Vanuatu Tourism Office General Manager. He said that the story by Rick Williamson was disrespectful to South Pacific cultures, taking footage out of context. In one section chiefs and villagers drinking kava are described as "really hammered" and "plastered on this stuff", while Williamson says when he partook in the kava that it was a "portal to the spirit world".
Read more about this topic: 60 Minutes (New Zealand)
Famous quotes containing the word controversy:
“And therefore, as when there is a controversy in an account, the parties must by their own accord, set up for right Reason, the Reason of some Arbitrator, or Judge, to whose sentence, they will both stand, or their controversy must either come to blows, or be undecided, for want of a right Reason constituted by Nature; so is it also in all debates of what kind soever.”
—Thomas Hobbes (1579–1688)
“Ours was a highly activist administration, with a lot of controversy involved ... but I’m not sure that it would be inconsistent with my own political nature to do it differently if I had it to do all over again.”
—Jimmy Carter (James Earl Carter, Jr.)