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.

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 wider Muslim community,’’ the BSA said.

The BSA acknowledged 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.’’

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 its foreign passthrough channels. Sky News Australia pulled the broadcast after footage of the fatal Christchurch shootings was shown to Kiwis on March 16.

Similar complaints made against TVNZ were not upheld. The BSA said the clips TVNZ ran were shorter and did not contain explicit violence.