December 19, 2013
Complaints panel clears Willie & JT
Former Radio Live talk host John Tamihere is welcoming a Mediaworks complaints committee finding clearing Willie Jackson and himself of complaints over their Roast Busters interview.
The pair were taken off air after complaints about their treatment of a caller who identified herself as a friend of a victim of a group which boasted on social media sites of raping intoxicated and under-age woman.
Mr Tamihere’s contract has not been renewed.
He says the committee did not uphold any of the complaints from people who heard to broadcast or listened to it on the station’s website, and acknowledged no broadcasting standards were breached.
"The problem we’ve got or the problem I’ve got at the moment is that a lot of people don’t want to accept or acknowledge that there are a range of processes in play now that bring sanity to a discussion, and when you read this result it’s a very pleasing outcome for Jackson and myself," he says.
Mr Tamihere says complainants can appeal to the Broadcasting Standards Authority, but that authority has never gone against a finding by the Mediaworks complaints committee.
The committee’s finding was that the broadcast was acceptable to the regular RadioLIVE talkback audience in the context of the entire show; the interview subject took part voluntarily;
she did not express any distress during the interview and in contrast appeared comfortable with answering all questions.
It said the interview elicited some important information that had not yet been discussed by other contributors to the show.
Listen here for John Tamihere interview
Read the full Mediaworks decision here.
Copyright © 2013, UMA Broadcasting Ltd