TVNZ Online Engagement Guidelines
Online Engagement Guidelines
PURPOSE
Our purpose at TVNZ is to inspire the conversations of Aotearoa. We strive to create and
uphold trust and credibility in meeting our purpose.
It’s great to have audiences talking about TVNZ and our content in a positive way. If you
feel comfortable and confident, we encourage you to take part in online conversations
about our industry and what we do, and in some roles, we will expect you to have an
online presence. These Guidelines are designed to help you to engage with the public
online in a way that is both safe for you and appropriate given our role here at TVNZ
We want all TVNZers to know that we support their online engagement where it is
consistent with these Guidelines, and to have clear guidance on how to deal with online
harm. Your safety remains our top priority and these Guidelines set out the controls TVNZ
has in place to protect you from online harm and the avenues you can use to report
online harm. We also do not wish to restrict any online activities in your personal life.
However, working for us means that anything you say or do online may be attributed to,
or reflect, TVNZ in the eyes of the public (particularly for public-facing roles). Therefore,
we place a lot of trust in TVNZers to uphold TVNZ’s credibility when interacting with
others online.
These Guidelines should be read in conjunction with o
ur Wellbeing and Safety Policy,
Harassment Policy and th
e TVNZ Code. SCOPE
These Guidelines apply to:
• All TVNZ employees, contractors & Board Members (‘TVNZers’)
• All Social Media activity by TVNZers on their Personal Accounts and on professional
accounts linked to TVNZ (Official Account, Official Programme Account, or Hybrid
Account) including (but not limited to):
• tweeting and retweeting
• posting
• commenting
• sharing
• ‘liking’ or ‘reacting’
• following other accounts
• direct messaging on Social Media platforms.
DEFINITIONS
Definition
Meaning
Social Media
All public online platforms where you can post, comment and
upload content. These public platforms include, but are not limited
to, Twitter, Facebook, Tik Tok, You Tube and Instagram.
TVNZers
All individuals who carry out work for TVNZ, including employees
and contractors.
Official
An official account that is set up, monitored and managed by the
Entertainment
TVNZ Social Media Team in the Marketing Business area, not related
Account
to NCA.
TVNZ Online Engagement Guidelines
Official NCA
An account for a TVNZ NCA programme that is set up, monitored
Programme
and managed by TVNZ. For example, @1NewsNZ (the official
Account
Twitter account for 1News).
Official Individual An official TVNZ account under an individual TVNZer’s name that is
Account
set up, monitored and managed by TVNZ.
Hybrid Account
A personal account that an on-air presenter, reporter, or other NCA
TVNZer also uses for work-related matters and/or a personal
account that is associated with TVNZ due to the nature of the
person’s role or public profile. These accounts can be public or
private.
Personal Account An account set up and operated by a TVNZer for personal matters
which has minimal association between the user and TVNZ.
WELLBEING AND SAFETY – PREVENTING ONLINE HARM
No matter what role you have at TVNZ, you may be exposed to comments on Social
Media that are subjectively or objectively negative and/or abusive. Abusive and negative
comments may be made by someone generally or targeted at you personally. Either way,
these comments can have harmful phycological impacts.
We have a duty of care to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, to ensure the health
and safety of TVNZers. Although we cannot eliminate the risk of online harm, we can
minimise the risk and effect of online harm towards TVNZers by putting in place control
measures. This includes ensuring that all TVNZers know where to get help in the event
they feel threatened or harmed by any online behaviours.
These control measures include:
• Setting our Social House Rules for users on TVNZ Social Media accounts (see
Appendix 1)
• Only tagging you in TVNZ posts relating to your own stories (unless you tell us not
to)
• Moderating your Official Individual Account or Hybrid Account on your behalf,
either permanently or temporarily (if requested by you)
• Actively moderating comments on your posts (see below)
• Providing all employees with access to our
Employee Assistance Programme
(EAP); and
• The use of platform functionality such as profanity filters and key word blocking
• Providing training and support from experts, including Netsafe, counsellors, or
psychologists.
• Taking a break
As workers of TVNZ, you also have a duty to take reasonable care for your own health
and safety. Although we are doing what we reasonably can to minimise online harm, we
do not always know when you are receiving online abuse that is causing you harm.
Therefore, it is important that you take steps to reduce risk of the potentially harmful
effects of online abuse. For example, you can:
• Talk to your leader or your P&C Business Partner about the online harm if you do
not feel comfortable reporting the concern using TVNZ’s reporting lines (see
Reporting a Social Media Concern section below)
TVNZ Online Engagement Guidelines
• Block users posting harmful comments – if you need help with this someone in the
Digital Team can support you
• Discourage online abuse by not engaging with the user
• Use the reporting functions on Social Media platforms to report any harmful
content - if you need help with this the someone in the Digital Team can support
you
• Contact Netsafe to get external support on reporting online harm
• Temporarily switch your personal account setting from public to private when
posting about a difficult or controversial story, or turn off comments
• Take a break from Social Media with our full support
• Ask us to manage your Social Media for an agreed period
Security expectations
We expect you to be cyber-smart and to have appropriate security controls in place
when using Social Media as ensuring your own security will help to protect you from both
online and physical harm. Our main expectations in this space are that you:
• Appropriately distinguish online content that is public versus private. You may
publicly post anything related to TVNZ’s content, however, please keep your
personal matters and details private
• Be alert to any suspicious activity, such as scammers, malware, fake giveaways
and phishing links
• Act smartly on Social Media. For example, disable your location settings in your
public posts (especially when posting from your home or holiday location).
Account moderation
We encourage online engagement and debate. However, our priority is protecting the
health, safety and wellbeing of TVNZers using Social Media. One way for TVNZ to minimise
the risk of online harm for TVNZers is through actively monitoring Official Entertainment
Accounts, Official NCA Programme Accounts, Official Individual Accounts and moderating
posts or comments on those accounts.
We will remove any comment, post, interaction or content (written and visual) that:
• Is potentially defamatory, insulting, abusive or disparaging
• Includes a swear word or other profanity
• Contains misinformation that may cause harm to the community
• Violates another’s copyright or intellectual property
• Condones or promotes illegal activity
• Is misleading, fraudulent, or deceptive
• Uses language or expresses views that are vulgar, hateful, discriminatory, racist,
violent, threatening, or harassing
• Are spam or intended to cause technical disruptions to an account or platform;
• Discloses personal information about another person, without that person’s prior
consent
• Is not related to the post under which it appears (relating to comments).
In appropriate circumstances, the relevant team will block or report users via the platform
reporting function and mute users by turning off the comments function. These actions
will depend on the severity and frequency of inappropriate content, and potential harmful
impact on the community or TVNZers.
TVNZ Online Engagement Guidelines
Account Moderation
An option for all TVNZers (particularly NCA TVNZers) is to have two separate Social Media
accounts – one being a Personal Account and the other being an Official Individual
Account. If you choose this arrangement and it is a reasonable step to take given the
nature of your role and/or the specific circumstances, we will moderate your Official
Individual Account for you. Having TVNZ moderate your Official Individual Account means
that we can deal with any content that could result in harm on your behalf.
Please let People & Culture Business Partner and your Leader know if you would like to set
up an Official Individual Account for TVNZ to manage.
ONLINE ENGAGEMENT GUIDING PRINCIPLES
We have this set of Guiding Principles that you must keep in mind when interacting on
Social Media. These Principles apply regardless of whether you operate a Personal
Account or professional account linked to TVNZ (Official Entertainment Account, Official
NCA Programme Account, Official Individual Account or Hybrid Account). These Principles
are set out in the table below.
1
Always act with integrity.
2
Always protect TVNZ’s reputation as an impartial and independent organisation,
and refrain from expressing your views on controversial topics or politics.
3
Remember that your actions online can be directly tied to TVNZ. Always be
clear that any opinions or views you express are your own and do not do or say
anything that may bring TVNZ into disrepute.
4
Do not refer to proprietary or confidential material belonging to TVNZ.
5
If you have a Hybrid Account, always get prior approval from someone in the
NCA Leadership Team before promoting or endorsing commercial activities,
products, businesses, not for profit organisations, external events or external
sites.
6
Do not break any laws (such as copyright, fair use, defamation, or privacy laws).
7
Respect other TVNZers and always get their permission before posting content
about them.
8
Prioritise your effectiveness and productivity at work by limiting your personal
use of Social Media during work hours.
We have set out some examples of conduct on Social Media that would breach these
Guiding Principles in Appendix 2.
ADDITIONAL GUIDELINES FOR NCA TVNZERS
Additional Guidelines
If you are a journalist or presenter, we expect you to follow both the Guiding Principles
above and the news and current affairs (NCA) guidelines set out in this section. The
reason for these additional guidelines is because NCA TVNZers may be identified as part
of our newsroom. NCA TVNZers must follow these two additional guidelines when using
Social Media:
TVNZ Online Engagement Guidelines
1.
The same standard of journalism applies to what we say on Social Media as it does
to what we say in our NCA content on other platforms. This means that all content
must be true and defensible.
2.
Always act consistently with NCA’s core values of independence, integrity, trust,
honesty, respect, accuracy and fairness.
We have set out some examples of conduct on Social Media that would breach these
NCA guidelines in Appendix 2.
Twitter accounts
All NCA staff are welcome to have a Twitter account, but this is a not mandatory
requirement.
You can use Twitter for newsgathering, showcasing our NCA content, and promoting
TVNZ and your own professional profile. You may also want to ‘retweet’ someone else’s
content. Retweets should generally include comment of your own, otherwise it may be
seen as endorsing the retweeted content.
Ads and Tagging on Social Media
To ensure editorial integrity and impartiality as well as actual and perceived impartiality,
we avoid having integrated advertising content on any NCA TVNZer’s Social Media
accounts. Our expectation is that TVNZers are not seen to be endorsing or promoting any
commercial activities, products, businesses, not for profit organisations, external events or
external sites. on Social Media unless the Executive Editor has given prior approval.
To be clear, prior approval from the Executive Editor is required for:
• all paid advertising you undertake on Social Media;
• tagging or hash-tagging any product, service or organisation in comments or posts;
and
• commenting on, ‘liking’ or ‘reacting’ to any posts regarding a product, service or
organisation.
If you are advertising a product, service or organisation, you must comply with the
Advertising Standards Authority rules (ASA Rules). Under the ASA Rules, you must
declare if you are posting paid content or sponsored content by writing “#Ad” or
“#Sponsored” in your post or comment.
CORRECTION AND DELETION
If you post any content that is wrong, you must delete it or correct it as soon as possible.
There may also be situations where an apology is appropriate. If you are in any doubt, talk
to your leader.
Sometimes, it is not possible to delete posted content. For example, on Twitter, a deleted
tweet will remain publicly visible if your tweet has been retweeted or reposted elsewhere.
Therefore, it is important to always carefully check anything you are intending to post. If
there is ever any doubt, just ask your leader.
TVNZ Online Engagement Guidelines
REPORTING A SOCIAL MEDIA CONCERN
If you see content on a TVNZ Official Entertainment Account, Official NCA Programme
Account, Hybrid Account, Official Individual Account or Personal Account that causes any
concern, please raise it with your leader or with People and Culture. Alternatively, you can
contact:
• TVNZ’s Official Entertainment Accounts – [email address]
• Official NCA Programme Accounts –
[email address] and specify the
programme
• Official Individual Account -
[email address] and specify the account
• Hybrid Accounts – talk to your Leader
• All other queries or concerns –
[email address]
• Netsafe -
https://report.netsafe.org.nz/hc/en-au/requests/new or for urgent help –
0508 NETSAFE (0508 638 723)
We will look into (and investigate if necessary) any concern raised with us.
LEAVING TVNZ
If you leave TVNZ, you will need to either:
(a) hand over or delete any Social Media accounts that reference “TVNZ” in the
user/profile, including relevant login and password information; or
(b) change any continuing Social Media profile(s) to remove references to a
connection with TVNZ. You may also be required to notify your followers of these
changes.
You will also need to remove any confidential information from your electronic devices
(both personal and work devices).
Executive Editor
6/12/22
6/12/24
TVNZ POLICY STATEMENT: As with all our policies, a breach of this policy may result in
disciplinary action being taken, possibly including termination of employment or contract.
TVNZ Online Engagement Guidelines
APPENDIX 1 – SOCIAL MEDIA HOUSE RULES
Keep private stuff private
1. Remember, our sites are public. So only post stuff you don't mind other people
seeing. Please don’t post personal details about yourself or others.
2. Make sure you get the okay from everyone who features in any videos or images
you share.
Be honest
Don't pretend to be other people, companies or brands or claim other peoples' work as
your own.
Keep it clean
1. Remember, our site is meant to be a fun place to visit, so it's important that people
feel safe. Anything that's threatening, harmful or offensive is not okay, which
includes usernames or profile pictures
2. Everyone has opinions. And we're keen to hear them. But be nice about it.
3. If you feel like someone is posting or commenting inappropriately, or you're being
personally harassed, please let your leader or People & Culture know.
4. Any links to pornography or anything inappropriate will be deleted.
5. Make sure your content is bug and virus free.
Don’t break the law
1. Don’t post any videos, images or text showing or referencing you being involved in
any criminal activity
2. Don’t post anything that breaches any court orders or injunctions.
3. When operating Official NCA Programme Accounts and Official Entertainment
accounts, don't post any content (including music, videos or images) that isn't
yours, unless the copyright owner says it's okay.
Don’t flood, spam or advertise
1. Flooding is when the same content is posted over and over in the same place.
Spamming is posting the same content in lots of places. Please don't do this.
2. This is not the place to promote businesses, brands, non TVNZ events, including
your own. Please don't post ads, pyramid schemes, chain letters, junk mail, surveys,
contests or anything like that.
No Spoilers
Not everyone's seen what you've seen, so please don’t give away plot developments that
are yet to be broadcast in New Zealand.
Your posts. Your responsibility.
All interactions, posts etc on Hybrid Accounts or Personal Accounts are your responsibility
and are in no way endorsed by TVNZ.
TVNZ Online Engagement Guidelines
APPENDIX 2 – EXAMPLES OF SOCIAL MEDIA USE IN BREACH OF THESE
GUIDELINES
We have set out some examples of online conduct that would breach our Online
Engagement Guidelines:
a.
Making a statement that is untrue, defamatory, rumour, or hearsay.
b.
Expressing personal opinions on controversial topics or politics on Social Media that
in a way that could compromise TVNZ’s objectivity and independence.
c.
Making a discriminatory statement based on an individual’s physical appearance or
other personal characteristics, including sex, sexual orientation, race, age, disability,
marital or occupational status, or religious belief.
d.
Engaging in ‘trash-talking’ about anyone or anything (including criticism or an attack
on someone else or posting about your own personal disputes or complaints).
e.
Criticising TVNZ programmes or people.
f.
Using profanities, even where you substitute letters (for example, “F**k”).
g.
Engaging in lengthy or negative back-and-forth exchanges with a member of the
public.
h.
Not referring a public complaint about a TVNZ post to TVNZ’s Complaints
Department.
i.
Referring to a threat of legal action against TVNZ or a TVNZer.
j.
Making a statement on TVNZ’s behalf (any statement on TVNZ’s position can only be
issued by the Corporate Communications team).
