Mona Blades disappeared while hitch-hiking between Hamilton and Hastings in May 1975.
The Media Council has upheld a complaint about a newspaper’s story on a cold-case disappearance, but four of the 10 council members say the ruling is “unfair” and sends a “worrying signal to newsrooms”.
And in an unusual move, the newspaper’s publisher, NZME, says it believes the council has made a “serious error” – and that the decision has “potentially far-reaching consequences to journalism in New Zealand and to the wider public we serve“.
The decision, released today, is centred on a report published in the Rotorua Daily Post on May 31 about the disappearance of 18-year-old hitchhiker Mona Blades in the North Island exactly 50 years earlier. Her body and belongings have never been found.
The article quoted the daughter of a police officer and his regret – in the final weeks before his death – at failing to find “the smoking gun” to prove his theory about Blades’ disappearance.
“Former Kawerau policeman Tony Moller always believed his ex-colleague, the late former traffic officer Derrick Hinton, was involved in Blades’ death – allegations that have been strongly rejected by Hinton’s family," reported the Daily Post.
The article – quoting Moller’s daughter – was published on the front page of the newspaper, and continued to page 2. It was an indepth story on the case, and included other theories behind Blades’ disappearance.
It prompted a formal complaint to the Media Council from Hinton’s own daughter, Pauline Davies, who described the article’s approach as sensationalist and tabloid.
The family of Hinton, as the article also reported, had gone to some length to defend their late relative in the past, including setting up a website – now no longer active – to clear his name.
Hinton had previously been named in media reports, and in January 2012, police used excavators to drill into the floor of a Kawerau property where he lived in the 1970s.
Police came up with nothing and closed their inquiries into Moller’s claims.
The Daily Post story repeated earlier media reports – sourced from documents released under the Official Information Act – that Moller had also accused Hinton of being involved in the unsolved murder of Tracey Ann Patient whose body was found in the Waitakere Ranges in 1976.
Both cold cases remain open. According to the Daily Post article and other reports, more than 500 suspects, many of whom owned orange Datsuns – a car that police believe was central to the Blades case – were investigated in relation to her disappearance.
The Media Council today found the Daily Post article was accurate and balanced but – by a majority of 6-4 – said it was unfair.
The council said the article went into “significant” details of the allegations made by Moller against Hinton.
“Naming previous persons of interest and publishing unsubstantiated theories around their connection to the disappearance is, in certain circumstances, unfair,” said the council.
“Regardless of whether the article labels it as a theory, it still heightens the speculation around their involvement. The impact that this has on people that were not charged, and in this case, their families, is understandably distressing.”
It said it could be legitimate, in certain circumstances, for the media to keep cold cases alive and to refer to suspects.
“There is certainly no rule against that if there is some factual basis for a suspect to be named, such as a previous charge or statement by the police that the person was a suspect,” said the Media Council.
“However, this article was deeply unfair to Mr Hinton and his family.
“He is named as the object of one man’s discredited and unsubstantiated theory, and this is compounded by reference to him having yet another theory about Mr Hinton committing a second terrible crime.
“In these particular circumstances, it was unfair to name Mr Hinton as the subject of those theories and cause grief to his family.
“As we have stated, the unsolved murder and Mr Moller’s regret could all have been referred to without stating the name of Mr Hinton.
“The article could still have referred to Mr Moller and the Mona Blades case without naming Mr Hinton.
“It was therefore the unnecessary naming of him on the flimsy and entirely unsubstantiated theory of one deceased man which was unfair, and which warrants an uphold.”
The Media Council said there were no breaches of its principles in regards to headlines/captions and photographs/graphics.
The members of the Media Council are a mix of lay people and media representatives and it is chaired by retired Court of Appeal judge Raynor Asher KC.
Those who upheld the decision on the basis of the story being unfair were Asher, Marie Shroff, Reina Vaai, Ben France-Hudson, Richard Pamatatau and Judi Jones.
Another council member, Scott Inglis, did not take part in the decision for conflict reasons – he works for NZME.
In a written “dissent”, four members of the council – Tim Watkin, Rosemary Barraclough, Guy MacGibbon and Hank Schouten – said reviewing cold cases was common place and “ensures victims, such as Mona Blades, and unsolved cases are not forgotten”.
“While we sympathise with the distress felt by the complainant and her family, we believe ruling the article is unfair under Media Council principles goes too far,” they said.
“It sends a worrying signal to newsrooms that they cannot fairly report on unproven crime theories or use details already on the public record.
“Journalists are rightly taught to be as precise as possible in their reporting. Mr Hinton’s name and the theory of his involvement in Mona Blades’ disappearance have been widely reported and is even on the Mona Blades Wikipedia page.
“Mr Moller’s theory was taken seriously by police. It has become part of the story of an investigation into a crime that remains tragically unsolved.
“In that context, it was fair to repeat details of Mr Moller’s theory, including Mr Hinton’s name.
“We were also influenced by the fact the feature was not inaccurate, other unproven theories were also discussed, and the article clearly said Mr Moller’s theory was unproven and criticised.”
They said the public could be “left to make up its own mind as to its reliability without the council acting as gatekeeper”.
“The complainant was offered the opportunity to comment and the potential of a follow-up story. She declined both. Ultimately, it’s in the public interest for news media to report on cold cases. Podcast and magazines are full of such reporting, including re-examining unproven theories.
“We disagree with the majority that this example of everyday journalism falls short of Media Council standards.”
Under Media Council rules, a summary of an upheld decision has to be published by the website/newspaper that published the original article.
NZME editor in chief Murray Kirkness said the publisher was disappointed with the council’s ruling.
“Given the information is widely available in the public domain, the fact a majority of the council found the inclusion of those details ‘unfair’ is of concern. We note the article was ruled to be accurate and balanced.
“We understand Ms Davies’ distress in the circumstances. Decisions about the publication of such material are made only after appropriate consideration and deliberation by senior editors. Making such decisions is difficult, but we recognise we have a public duty to do so.”
He said the company supported and agreed with the position of the dissenting council members.
“We recognise the Media Council’s important role as a self-regulatory body and respect it for the work it does. However, in this instance, we believe it has made a serious error – one that has potentially far-reaching consequences to journalism in New Zealand and to the wider public we serve.”
Read the full decision:
Editor-at-Large Shayne Currie is one of New Zealand’s most experienced senior journalists and media leaders. He has held executive and senior editorial roles at NZME including Managing Editor, NZ Herald Editor and Herald on Sunday Editor and has a small shareholding in NZME.