Juxtaposing a television news item about a recall of oil heaters with an item on the deaths of two girls in a fire caused by a gas heater was unfair, says the Broadcasting Standards Authority.
TV One's news on August 30 last year ran the two items one after the other.
The Warehouse, which stocked the Brio oil heater, complained that the link left viewers with the impression the oil heater was responsible for the fatal blaze, rather than a gas heater.
TV One said the item did not imply the blaze was caused by the oil heater.
"The linkage which led to the editorial decision to run these two items one after the other was simply that both involved heaters - there was nothing more to it than that," it said.
The Warehouse said hundreds of customers acted on the assumption Brio heaters were linked to the fire.
The authority said the broadcast created a misleading impression, but was not unbalanced or inaccurate. It made no order, but said an explanation and apology soon after the broadcast would have been sensible.
- NZPA
