Media Council faults Herald article on cyclists

The NZ Media Council upheld the complaint.

A recent New Zealand Herald article about a group of cyclists riding on a narrow, winding rural road was inaccurate and unbalanced, says the Media Council.

The item, illustrated with dash-cam video taken from a following vehicle, was published on October 23 under the headline 'Dangerous dickheads: Cyclists caught crossing centre line, taking up whole roads.

A passenger in the vehicle was quoted as describing the cyclists as "dangerous dickheads" and "ignorant a**holes" who hogged the road by riding four- abreast (rather than single file) which made it impossible for her vehicle to pass safely, and forcing it to travel behind the group for a few minutes at less than 30km/h.

A reader complained the article was anti-cyclist and did not justify the claim that the cyclists had put other road users at risk. If anything they had made it clear to the driver of the car behind that it was not safe to overtake. This was a narrow road with blind bends and it would have been unsafe for a vehicle to have attempted to pass a line of single-file cyclists.

He estimated the following vehicle would have been held up for just one minute. He said the article gave this incident disproportionate attention and the headline was designed to be sensational or clickbait. The complainant also said it targeted vulnerable road users, constituted incitement and had generated threatening and aggressive comment.

The Media Council found the article to be inaccurate. The dash-cam footage showed the passing activity of the riders led to them being four abreast. While one cyclist briefly crossed the centre line the group stayed on the left of the road and did not take up the whole road as was stated in the story.

The item was also one-sided. There was nothing to indicate any attempt was made to balance the passenger's opinion that the cyclists were riding dangerously.

The paper said its reporter tried to contact a local cycling group but only to ask if they recognised the cyclists involved. They did not so the Herald said it was not possible to get the riders' response. However, no comment was sought from the police or other cyclists who might have explained the footage from another viewpoint.

If anything the Herald accentuated the sole viewpoint given by repeating another one-sided story about a similar incident earlier that month. It also effectively declared the passenger's view to be a matter of fact with an unattributed caption reading: "Dangerous cyclists caught crossing centre line, taking up whole rural roads."

The full council decision can be read here