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Aramoana gunman David Gray - Source: ONE News -
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The High Court has ruled the Broadcasting Standards Authority was wrong to censure TVNZ for the use of a swear word in a story about the Aramoana massacre.
TVNZ said the ruling was an important win for media freedom.
The High Court decision overturned the BSA's ruling in April that the use of the word "f***ing" in TV ONE's Sunday current affairs programme breached broadcasting standards.
Justice Simon France described the BSA's decision as "plainly wrong," and said it "does a disservice to the programme to isolate this word".
TVNZ successfully argued that viewers had a right to hear the exact exchange that took place between the Aramoana gunman David Gray and the policeman who shot him dead.
"This is an important win for media freedom and the right of the New Zealand public to hear an accurate and complete record of such a significant event in our history," said TVNZ's Editor Current Affairs John Gillespie.
"The Sunday programme aired on the 20th anniversary of the massacre and revealed details of the final confrontation between Police and David Gray, information never before made public.
"Much thought and scrutiny went into how Sunday would reveal those details. The judge vigorously backed up that scrutiny in his decision.
"We're not arguing to relax the rules around strong language on TV. Context is all important. Our story accurately recounted an important historical event, which is surely our public duty as journalists. This case was an obvious exception to the general rule, and the judge agreed."
Gillespie said it was "very heartening to see a very quick, commonsense and clear decision from the Court".
