Mataura Taskforce chairwoman Laurel Turnbull, a member of the Mataura Community Board, said she and her fellow board members were "gutted" when they watched the programme.
Mrs Turnbull said TV3 contacted town revitalisation authority David Wilson, of Oamaru-based firm Heritage Futures, who had been hired to investigate economic-development initiatives for the town.
"All of us [the taskforce and community board] thought this was to show people that we are planning for big things in Mataura," Mrs Turnbull said.
Reporter Elizabeth Hayes visited the town with a film crew and outlined the plans for the revitalisation of the town.
However, Mrs Turnbull said while most of the voiceover was fine, the filming of the rundown buildings and a statement about the smell from the meat-processing plant were particularly damaging for the town's reputation and the morale of the community, who had put considerable effort into working together to form a plan to revitalise the town.
"For the past 12 months or more the Mataura Taskforce have been working for the community to turn things in Mataura around and make it a place that people can be proud of," Mrs Turnbull said.
"I am appalled that they [TV3] would do this and I ask why, as there was no reason for what I and others see as such a negative report," she said.
In the news segment, Ms Hayes said Mr Wilson would have his work cut out for him in Mataura, as "most of the shops in the main street are empty, run-down houses are everywhere and the old paper mill lies idle".
"The busiest part of town is the local meatworks. They employ around 1000 staff - but it is a double-edged sword - the pungent smell which comes out of the factory is enough to drive anyone out of town," Ms Hayes said in the report.
Yesterday, Ms Hayes said the focus of the story was to show what the town was like at present and to talk about the revitalisation plans.
In order to illustrate the story it was necessary to show what needed improving, she said.
The shops were empty in Bridge St and she had interviewed Gore District Mayor Tracy Hicks to get his side of the story, she said.
Ms Hayes said she had been through Mataura on several occasions before filming the segment but had not smelt the odour from the Alliance Group plant as strongly before.
However, she said she had not really been out of the car when she had passed through the town on previous occasions.
"It [the odour] was shocking. I've never smelt it so bad," she said.
"I hope people weren't too offended [by the programme]," Ms Hayes said.
Mr Wilson said he did not view the programme as a setback to the revitalisation plans for Mataura.
"All it's done is let the whole country know that Mataura is a great town and is loved by the local community and it is about to be revitalised," Mr Wilson said.
Mr Wilson adopted a positive attitude to the comment about the smell coming from the meat processing plant.
"I understand there are now comprehensive methods for diminishing odour for such plants and this could be explored in conjunction with the makeover programme," Mr Wilson said.
"Mataura could be the first community in the world to have a meat-processing plant with no odour," he said.
Mr Wilson believed once the first stage of the development - revitalising Bridge St - started to take place, the community's enthusiasm would increase.
Alliance Group general manager of processing John Brader said there had only been one occasion in the past 12 months when there had been a complaint about odour from the Mataura plant.
He was not sure whether that complaint coincided with the television crew's visit to the town.
That complaint was made on a day when the plant processed an abnormally large amount of cattle and adult sheep, Mr Brader said.
Since then, the company had put in place measures to prevent the odour problem occurring again, he said.
"It was an one-off issue and it is now under control," Mr Brader said.
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