Media Council upholds complaint on report of university sex assault survey

The article reported on the findings of survey sent to 2700 students at an NZ university.

The Media Council has ruled that a headline and introduction to a story on the prevalence of sexual assault among university students was misleading.

The June 6 article was headlined "One in three students are sexually assaulted during their studies: new research".

The first paragraph read "One in three university students will be sexually assaulted while they are studying, new research reveals."

The article, published in the New Zealand Herald, reported on the findings of a survey that
had been sent to 2700 students at a New Zealand university.

On reading the full article it became clear the headline was based on the findings from those who had chosen to respond. More than a third of those respondents said they had experienced some form of sexual assault.

The Herald, in response, noted that the headline could not be expected to canvass every detail of the article and should be read in conjunction with the full article.

However, the figure of one in three related to those who had chosen to respond to the survey, a self-selecting group, not the total student population as the headline and introduction stated.

The headline and introduction were therefore misleading and the complaint was upheld, with one member dissenting.

• The full Media Council decision can be viewed here.