Tim Shadbolt makes news as dog of an issue has its sequel at standards authority

Remember when the puppies were killed in Invercargill?~

Karen decided to do something about it, and complain to the TVNZ complaints

[4] Karen Batchelor made a formal complaint to Television New Zealand Ltd, the broadcaster, alleging that the item had breached standards relating to controversial issues, accuracy and fairness.

[5] The complainant argued that the item was inaccurate, because the lineage of the euthanized puppies was unknown. She noted that the item’s introduction stated that Mr Shadbolt had said that the puppies were a cross between the Rottweiler and Mastiff breeds. She pointed out that, when footage of Mr Shadbolt was shown, he referred to the puppies as being a cross between Pit Bull Terrier and Rottweiler.

[6] Ms Batchelor contended that Mr Shadbolt did not know the breed of the puppies and that the SPCA had told her that its “best guess” was that they were a cross between the breeds Rottweiler and Huntaway.

[7] With respect to Standard 4 (controversial issues – viewpoints), the complainant noted that the issue had been discussed during an episode of Close Up the evening before and that both Mr Shadbolt and a representative from the SPCA had been given an opportunity to speak. She said that the news item had repeated Mr Shadbolt’s “unsubstantiated claims” that the puppies were Pit Bull crosses, which inferred that they would grow up to be dangerous. She argued that the item should have included the SPCA’s view expressed by its representative the evening before that no breed of dog was born “bad” and that, due to their age, the puppies were harmless.

[8] Ms Batchelor also contended that, because Mr Shadbolt and the Council were “unaware of how the puppies were bred”, it was unfair of the item to allow Mr Shadbolt to cast aspersions on Pit Bulls and Mastiffs and vilify the breeds. MORE>>

I would like to thank Southern Squall for alerting me about the sequence of events.