Broadcasting Claim Confirmed Against Mike Hosking

Broadcasters have been reminded of the importance of being careful when collecting and interpreting statistics after a complaint against Mike Hosking was upheld.

Hosking made statements referring to death rate statistics in Italy related to Covid-19 which were later deemed misleading by the Broadcasting Standards Authority.

The host of the radio show suggested that the majority of deaths in overseas countries, such as Italy, could be attributed to underlying health conditions.

The specific comments were “many of those who die were dying anyway … there are very few – very, very few – who could be argued specifically dying from the virus.

“99.2% [of people who have died of Covid-19] died with underlying health problems. In other words, the same things that were killing them anyway, over 1600 a day. “

The comment aired during its Mike’s Minute segment on Newstalk ZB on April 6.

Hosking also covered a variety of other topics in the segment, including:

• If the government’s Covid-19 blockade was working;

• Whether it should relax to become more like the Australian situation to reduce the impact on the economy;

• Why New Zealand was not tested at its maximum daily capacity;

• The importance of remembering the total number of deaths in New Zealand, Spain and Italy per year, as opposed to deaths from the virus specifically.

The plaintiff said that Hosking’s comments violated the standards of accuracy and discrimination and denigration of the Radio Broadcasting Code of Practice.

However, while the BSA confirmed the complaint about the accuracy, it found that the comment did not violate standards of discrimination and denigration.

Judge Bill Hastings said, on behalf of the BSA, that the case highlighted the importance of knowing the facts when commenting on current news and events.

“We urge broadcasters to be careful when obtaining and interpreting statistics and drawing conclusions from scientific or other studies, as audiences rely heavily on the media to provide authoritative and reliable information on matters of public importance,” Hastings said.

However, NZME, the broadcaster of the commentary article and editor of the Herald, found no violation of the accuracy standard.

The announcer argued that Hosking’s comment was an analysis and opinion, rather than an unqualified statement of fact.

The reference to 1600 deaths per day is neither inaccurate nor misleading. Instead, it was a reference to the total number of daily deaths in Italy, NZME said.

To assist in the BSA’s consideration, NZME was asked to provide the sources and dates of the information Hosking relied on for comment.

They included two articles for statements made on the death rate for Italy and a website for the average death rates for New Zealand, Spain and Italy.

The key question in the BSA’s view was whether the way Hosking used statistics to support his views had the potential to mislead the audience.

After considering the information and comments from both the complainant and the broadcaster, the BSA found the comments to be misleading by omission.

Second, it was found that the broadcaster made no reasonable efforts to ensure that the program was not misleading in this regard.

Hastings said they believed Hosking exaggerated the positions outlined in the sources he relied on, and the article did not mention that people in Italy “were dying anyway.”

The article also does not focus on assessing the cause of death, but rather on discussing the factors that may have contributed to the high mortality rate.

In accordance with BSA standards, broadcasters must make reasonable efforts to ensure that all programming is accurate and that the points they make are not misleading.

The precision standard says the goal is to protect audiences from being “significantly misinformed.”