News gets viewers riled the most

Paul Henry who is now starring in The Paul Henry Show. Photo / Supplied

The most complained about television show in New Zealand this year was ... the news. Nine of the top 10 programmes targeted by disgruntled viewers were flagship news and current affairs offerings on TVNZ, TV3, Prime and Maori Television.

The only non-news show to make the list of shame was TV2's reality series Neighbours At War.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, The Paul Henry Show featured high in the league table of formal complaints received by the Broadcasting Standards Authority. It was the fourth most complained about show behind One News, Seven Sharp and Campbell Live.

The controversial TV3 host attracted several gripes, which included complaints about him asking a guest scientist if she had sex with Richard Branson.

He also used the "f" word a couple of times, read out a fan's letter about "lactating boobies" and made suggestive remarks about her.

When contacted by the Herald on Sunday, Henry was unrepentant.

"To be honest, I couldn't care less ... I'm now on holiday," he said.

One News pulled in the most complaints, mainly about accuracy and fairness. However, footage of Miley Cyrus twerking at the MTV Awards outraged a number of viewers on the grounds of good taste and decency. TV One's Seven Sharp was also slated for carrying an item about a weightlifter parodying the American pop singer's twerking and for comments about Australians that allegedly incited racism.

"It is the old journalistic themes of fairness, balance, accuracy and privacy that generally get people going and that is pretty much exclusively news and issue-based programmes," said TVNZ spokeswoman Megan Richards.

3 News also came under fire on grounds of accuracy and fairness. Campbell Live was blasted for several alleged breaches of privacy and also drew a complaint about a lawnmower being used in breach of the Health and Safety Act. "The job of a journalist is to hold people to account, particularly those with power.

Some people don't understand that or just don't like it," said Mark Jennings, head of news for MediaWorks. "Considering the amount of material that is produced, the number of complaints is small. An even smaller percentage is upheld."