On August 22, the Otago Daily Times published a story headed "Son’s suicide a decade in hell" which Garth Cameron complained was not accurate, fair or balanced.
The story was about a coroner’s inquiry into the death of 20-year-old Ross Taylor in 2013.
The complaint was not about Mr Taylor’s death or its causes, but about the unfair treatment of consultant psychiatrist Dr Richard Mullen, who was treating Mr Taylor at the time of his death.
Mr Cameron said the story damaged Dr Mullen’s reputation and did not give him or the judge who presided over the coroner’s court a fair voice.
Mr Cameron said the story appeared to be structured so as to remind readers of an earlier ODT story about the Health and Disability Commissioner’s findings in 2017 that made negative statements about Dr Mullen. He said the August 2022 story failed to say the coroner found Dr Mullen to be an honest and reliable witness.
In response, the ODT said the focus of the story was on the grief of the parents and regardless of the court’s findings, their pain could not be disputed. It acknowledged Dr Mullen was not criticised by the coroner but the story did refer to earlier history.
However, the ODT believed it summarised the coroner’s decision and elements of the case’s history in a fair and balanced way.
The Media Council said essentially the story was a report of a judge’s inquiry into Mr Taylor’s death, but the story was sympathetic to the parents as seen in the headline and as the ODT acknowledged in its response to the complaint.
The council said the judge’s report contained a number of positive statements about Dr Mullen and no criticism of his performance. The ODT article was unfair and unbalanced in failing to mention these and only referring to matters adverse to Dr Mullen.
The full council ruling can be found on its website https://www.mediacouncil.org.nz/.
