Sky News mosque clips highly disturbing – BSA

Sky TV has been fined for its use of the terrorist’s video from the mosque attacks in Christchurch on March 15.

The Broadcasting Standards Authority said while there was public interest in the event, the clips broadcast by Sky TV from Sky News Australia were highly disturbing and risked glorifying the alleged attacker and promoting his messages.

The company was fined $4000. ‘‘While the broadcast as a whole was newsworthy and had a high level of public interest, the clips themselves contained disturbing violent content, which had the potential to cause significant distress to members of the public, and particularly to the family and friends of victims and the wider Muslim community in New Zealand,’’ the BSA said in its decision.

The BSA acknowledged that the Sky News broadcast was passed through New Zealand from overseas but said greater editorial control needed to be exercised. ‘‘The degree of potential harm that could be caused to audiences was greater than the level of public interest, and the authority found overall that these clips, in the form broadcast, should not have been aired.’’

In their defence, Sky News submitted the events of March 15 were fast-moving and challenging, including for the media.

The broadcaster said Sky News had no ability to alter or modify the news feeds of it’s foreign pass-through channels.

Sky News Australia pulled the broadcast after footage of the fatal Christchurch shootings was shown to New Zealanders on March 16, and replaced by Fox Sports News.

Similar complaints made against TVNZ were not upheld.

The BSA said in the case of TVNZ, the clips shown were shorter and did not contain explicit violence or graphic content. The authority said it had taken into account the unprecedented circumstances and the high level of public interest in the coverage in making its decision.