TVNZ must pay Bain witness after 'unfair' doco

David Bain. Photo / Janna Dixon

The Broadcasting Standards Authority has ordered TVNZ to pay $1,500 to a defence witness in the Bain trial whose evidence was questioned in a television documentary.

The BSA ruled Daryl Young, a defence witness in David Bain's 2009 retrial, was unfairly treated in The Investigator: The Case Against Robin Bain, which broadcast on TV One at 9.30pm on July 6 last year.

Bryan Bruce, the documentary's maker, challenged Mr Young's testimony at the retrial about the sale of a photocopier and contended what Mr Young had said in court was not accurate.

Mr Bruce phoned Mr Young for the documentary claiming he had "documents and photographs that appear to contradict the evidence that you gave in court".

Mr Young said he had been "ambushed" by a single Saturday morning phone call, was "put on the spot and confronted with serious allegations", and complained he was not given a fair and reasonable opportunity to respond to the issues raised about his testimony.

"The clear impression given by Mr Bruce was that [my] evidence was inaccurate," he said, saying he stood by his testimony, which he could show was accurate.

The BSA disagreed Mr Young was ambushed.

"Mr Bruce did not need permission to phone him, and he clearly explained at the beginning of the phone call who he was, that he was making a programme, and what the programme was about," the ruling said.

"However, in our view, the matters about which Mr Bruce was phoning required the broadcaster to ensure that Mr Young was offered a fair and reasonable opportunity to provide a response.

Mr Bruce was raising serious issues about the veracity of Mr Young's testimony, which TVNZ must have known would have a significant impact both on Mr Young, and in the media, given the high level of public interest in David Bain's case.

"In these circumstances, we consider that one phone call, without any follow-up, did not represent sufficient or reasonable efforts by the broadcaster to engage with Mr Young and obtain a meaningful response from him."

The BSA declined to uphold other aspects of complaint relating to accuracy, controversial issues viewpoints, and privacy.

An apology from TVNZ was ruled not to be warranted in this occasion but ordered $1,500 be paid to Mr Young as a contribution towards his legal costs. The complainant sought legal costs of $6490.75.

In a separate complaint against the same documentary, Bain supporter Joe Karam and Simon Boyce of Kapiti said the documentary had breached the authority's standards over Mr Bruce's treatment of Mr Young.

The BSA dismissed complaints made about standards of fairness, accuracy, controversial issues and privacy, but upheld one complaint about fairness - the same one made by Mr Young.

The BSA ruled a publication of the decision was appropriate in this case.