The April 28 item stated Mr Harawira had "racked up a $35,000 travel bill - that's almost $4000 more than the Maori Party's total bill''.
However, the figure compared only Parliamentary Service expenditure, failing to mention Maori Party MPs also received funds from Ministerial Services.
Mr Harawira left the Maori Party in February and later formed the Mana Party.
Television New Zealand said it had tried to compare Mr Harawira's expenses with those incurred by members of his previous party and the item was intended only to represent the expenses paid for by Parliamentary Service.
The BSA accepted the figures were an accurate reflection of the MPs' expenses paid for by the Parliamentary Service but considered it misleading not to outline the limits of the comparison.
"Because the presenter stated that Mr Harawira's travel expenses were more than the Maori Party's 'total' travel bill, we consider that viewers would have been left with the impression that the figures reported constituted total travel expenditure for the period specified, and not just expenditure administered by one agency,'' the BSA said.
"In our view, this was misleading, because, as pointed out by the complainant, in addition to the $31,657 incurred by the Maori Party for travel and paid for by the Parliamentary Service, the Maori Party also received $20,783 for domestic air travel in the same period and paid for by Ministerial Services.''
However, Mr Harawira's complaint the item was unfair was not upheld. The BSA said that because he was a high profile and often controversial politician, "he should expect to face robust criticism, especially with regard to the expenditure of public money''.
"In this instance, the presenter's comments related to Mr Harawira in his professional capacity as an elected representative, and did not stray into 'abusively personal territory','' the BSA said.
