Adam Irish
No address provided
Via email: [FYI request #25742 email]
5 April 2024
Dear Mr Irish
Official Information Act request dated 11 March 2024
We refer to your email dated 11 March 2024 (your Request) requesting follow up
information under the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act). Responses to your
Request are set out below.
As background, we note your Request relates to the appearance by Nikki Hart on
TVNZ’s Breakfast show and is a fol ow up to concerns raised by way of two previous
requests under the Act.
Request 1:
Follow up request, I request under the Official Information Act all internal
correspondence from TVNZ that relates to this interview.
Response 1:
Section 18(e) of the Act applies to this Request: the information does not exist. In
accordance with the Act’s principle of transparency, and to assist with resolution of
your concerns, we note: the Breakfast team regularly discuss suggestions for
upcoming shows. During one of those discussions, the team discussed milk
preferences, and suggested that it could be interesting to have a segment featuring
a comparative look at the different milks and their health benefits. Nikki Hart was
approached simply because she is a well-known nutritionist.
Request 2:
Additionally I request under the Official Information Act all documents TVNZ has on
managing conflicts of interest between its advertised accounts and its statutory role
of maintaining journalists integrity.
Response 2:
We refer you to responses 2-6 in our letter to you of 6 March, as wel as the relevant
sections of TVNZ’s NCA Handbook provided to you with that letter.
In addition, we refer you to the State Services Code, and per our previous response,
the broadcasting standards established under the Broadcasting Act 1989.
Should you consider TVNZ has breached one of the Broadcasting Standards in relation
to the issues raised in your correspondence, you are able to make a formal complaint
at the fol owing link: https://corporate.tvnz.co.nz/contact/make-a-formal-complaint/
Finally, and as you may know, if you are dissatisfied with this response section 28 of
the Act provides you with the right to make a complaint to the Ombudsman in order
to seek an investigation and review.
Yours sincerely,
Official Information Requests Team
TVNZ
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