Rotorua man's Police Ten 7 complaint upheld

TVNZ has been ordered to pay a Rotorua man $1000 for showing footage of him being arrested for paint sniffing more than a decade ago.

The Broadcasting Standards Authority (BSA) awarded the man $1000 for breach of privacy and TVNZ was ordered to pay $1000 in costs.

In its decision, the authority said the footage was played in December 2010 on TV2 reality programme Police Ten 7 after first being broadcast in March 2008.

His face was pixelated but the footage, which was taken in the 1990s, showed his old house, belongings and used his voice and his first name which would enable people to identify him. The complainant was shown being arrested and taken to the police station.

The man said his main concerns were that he had not consented to the broadcast and that the filming had taken place in the mid to late 1990s. He had since gotten on with his life, but TVNZ had broadcast the footage two or three times. He said he did not need to be told by loved ones and friends that they had seen him on television being arrested in the 1990s.

"Regardless of whether the complainant's neighbours and the police were aware of his behaviour at the time we consider that people could have identified him who were not aware of his solvent abuse more than a decade ago," the BSA ruled.

"In this respect, it was also reasonable for the complainant to assume that this matter would not be repeatedly disclosed on television many years after he was filmed," the authority said.