Freak out over the F-word on Shorty

A Shortland Street viewer was so freaking annoyed when a character swore that he complained to the Broadcasting Standards Authority (BSA).

However while the profanity – the ‘‘f-word’’ – would have breached broadcasting standards, broadcaster TVNZ argued the show had instead used a euphemism – ‘‘freaking’’ – and the BSA did not uphold the complaint.

In its judgment the BSA said the complainant was right to protest because broadcasters are responsible to ensure any sanitised versions of swearwords are ‘‘distinctly aurally different’’.

The episode aired in December last year, and featured a scene where character Jack Hannah confronted a police officer.

The officer said: ‘‘You’ve got no freaking idea what we can do. You think you’re smart, you all do. Nothing but scum, your mongrel Dad, your crim Mum.’’

BSA members watched the scene in question several times. In their judgment, they said they had not heard ‘‘freaking’’.

‘‘We have struggled to reconcile the position of the broadcaster that the word used was ‘freaking’, with what we have heard. In our view, the word used was not ‘freaking’. However, we were not able to determine whether the word used was ‘f***ing’ or some less offensive but similar sounding word.

‘‘Just as we found it difficult to determine what was being said, so we believe most listeners and viewers would have had the same difficulty. The diction of the speaker was poor and what was being said was said quickly,’’ the BSA said.

It said it would have been unacceptable to use the actual swear word in Shortland Street’s 7pm timeslot, but the uncertainty around whether the character actually swore meant the BSA didn’t uphold the complaint.

The BSA did however urge broadcasters to be careful when using euphemisms like ‘‘freaking’’ because if there was some murkiness around pronunciation, it could find broadcasting standards were breached.

This isn’t the first time character Jack Hannah, played by actor Rueben Milner, has been involved in a BSA complaint. A viewer complained a homosexual love scene involving the character was ‘‘perverted’’. That complaint was not upheld.