Sean Plunket's Weinstein comments to go before broadcasting standards regulator with 'urgency'

Media man Sean Plunket's comments about disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein will be probed by the Broadcasting Standards Authority, of which he is a new member.

"We are aware of it," authority chief executive Belinda Moffat told the Herald today. "The board is considering it. They are giving it urgency."

"They will be considering the matter carefully and dealing with it in an appropriate way."

When asked what powers the board had to act regarding Plunket's comments on Twitter, Moffat said, "It's not appropriate to comment on the process."

Plunket seems to have implied in his tweet that he felt for Weinstein, who is enmeshed in a scandal involving many women claiming he sexually harassed them.

Plunket tweeted: "Anyone else feeling for Harvey Weinstein?"

He said he published the tweet as a "social experiment" and was "fishing" to show Twitter was an "echo chamber for the perennially outraged".

He told the Herald he felt revulsion and disappointment towards Weinstein, but those on Twitter seeking to be outraged jumped to attack anyone not complying with their "group think".

Plunket has since quit Twitter.

Plunket was a spokesman for The Opportunities Party during the election campaign.

The authority's members are appointed by the Governor-General on advice from the Minister for Broadcasting.