LEAD STORY: TV3 slammed for Bay report

HINERANGI VAIMOSO AND NZPA | 10th March 2010

TV3's 60 Minutes current affairs show has been slammed by the Broadcasting Standards Authority (BSA) for exploiting teens who featured in a documentary about gang culture in Flaxmere.

Girls in the Hood, which screened on TV3 on April 27 last year, featured young women who claimed to have been involved in girl gangs in Flaxmere.

Among the women were four aged 12, 13, 15 and 16, who were shown wearing gang-style clothing and reinacting burglary and tagging offences disguised only by loose bandannas which slipped down during the show.

The girls were not interviewed but the reporter said they had told her they were drinking and getting into fights.

The Hastings District Council laid a complaint with the BSA on May 21 last year, citing a breach of privacy and fairness standards.

Mayor Lawrence Yule and Flaxmere ward councillor Keriana Poulain deemed the stories inaccurate and unreliable, fuelling allegations the sources involved with the show were paid off.

Two of the council's six complaints regarding privacy and fairness were upheld by the BSA. The BSA said that even if the bandannas had not slipped, it did not agree with the broadcaster that they provided sufficient protection of identity.

"Viewers could see the top half of the girls' faces including their eyes, nose and hair colour. In addition, several full-length shots of the girls showed their body shapes and distinctive clothing," the decision said.

The three girls under 16 were not old enough to consent to a broadcast that would breach their privacy, the decision said, and "there is no evidence to suggest that a parent or guardian consented on their behalf".

In the case of the 16-year-old, there was an understanding with the reporter that her identity would not be revealed and the authority did not find the bandanna to be a sufficient disguise.

"The authority considers that the broadcaster reneged on an understanding not to reveal the girls' identities and thereby disclosed private facts in a highly offensive manner about four young girls, three of whom were children," the decision said.

The authority found the broadcaster failed to appreciate the harm the item could cause to the young girls' reputations and futures.

"In this respect, the authority is of the view that the broadcast exploited the girls, due to their young age and lack of appreciation for the consequences of their actions, and unnecessarily identified them. It considers that all four girls were treated unfairly."

The authority ordered TVWorks Ltd to broadcast a summary of the decision within a month and to pay the complainant costs of $3560.12 and the Crown costs of $2500.

TV3 legal counsel Clare Bradley refused to discuss if any heads would roll over the issue and said the broadcaster would not appeal the BSA decision.

She said TVWorks would air a summary of the decision and pay the fine.

Flaxmere College principal Nigel Hanton would not confirm whether any of the girls featured in the documentary were students at the school.

"The comment that I can make, however, is I believe there is an onus on the media to fairly represent the facts, especially when young people are involved," Mr Hanton said.

Flaxmere community leader Kayren Hatherell strongly agreed with the BSA decision, saying the report was unfair and out of context.

"I knew, especially when talking to other community leaders, we were extremely disappointed about the way things were done," Mrs Hatherell said.

"I think the context of the documentary was very contentious anyway so I'm not surprised with the outcome."

Mrs Hatherell said while the documentary didn't fuel gang culture in Flaxmere or cause a great shift away from it, she felt the community had grown stronger in the battle to stamp out gang behaviour.