A moment of truth

“Seldom … have we been confronted with events where falsity of information can cause such harm.”

- HELEN CRUSE

New Zealanders have raised a red flag about a rising tide of misinformation and the increasingly tough task they face in finding the truth.

The rise of less-trusted news and information channels and misinformation over Covid-19 are bringing these worries into sharp relief, according to new research by the Broadcasting Standards Authority (BSA).

As the regulator of this country’s airwaves, the BSA has seen fi rst-hand an upwelling of interest in the accuracy of programmes on TV and radio.

Accuracy is the most complained-about of the broadcasting standards overseen by the BSA, whose job it is to decide such complaints. Over half of all complaints we determined in 2020/21 involved accuracy issues – led by objections to coverage of Covid-19 and elections here and in the US.

Of these, only about 5% were upheld. This suggests complaint levels are more a reflection of increasingly polarised perspectives than the factual accuracy of what’s aired – but also that our coregulatory system is working and (traditional) broadcasters understand and generally meet their accuracy obligations.