In the Newstalk ZB radio interview in September last year, du Plessis Allan “hysterically” laughed at, and teased the interviewee Izzy Cook, a 16-year-old School Strike 4 Climate organiser.
The BSA accepted NZME’s action in upholding the complaint directly and did not uphold a complaint that the response was insufficient.
While talking about the climate effects of unnecessary air travel and her organisation’s demand to restrict it, she admitted to Du Plessis Allan she had recently taken a trip to Fiji with her family.
“Don’t you care about the climate?,” du Plessis Allan replied. “Come on, mate. Are you serious?” she added between bouts of laughter.
After the interview, du Plessis-Allan read out messages from listeners, some stating she had bullied the interviewee, and others finding it a “great interview” for exposing the interviewee’s “hypocrisy”.
Nick Wilson complained to the Authority, alleging the interview breached the fairness standard, while Alisdair Newton-Wade further alleged the interview breached the standards for children’s interests, offensive and disturbing content, and discrimination and denigration.
New Zealand Media and Entertainment (NZME), the owner of Newstalk ZB and also the New Zealand Herald, upheld the complaint directly, acknowledging the potential embarrassment the interview caused, but denying it amounted to bullying.
“Although [the interviewee] is a young person, as organiser and spokesperson of the School Strike for Climate protest it is to be expected she would be more accustomed than other persons of the same age to speaking in public and, by extension, giving media interviews,” the media organisation said.
“Notwithstanding these factors, ‘In view of [the interviewee’s] age and potential vulnerability, and having regard to the above guidelines, both the host and Newstalk ZB acknowledge the embarrassment that the segment may have caused the interviewee, and we uphold [the] complaint. We apologise to [the interviewee] for any harm this may have caused her.”
NZME confirmed the company and du Plessis Allan had apologised to Cook.
The BSA declined to take further action.
An NZME spokesperson said the company had no further comment.
