Refusal to give name ‘was in public interest’

Press, 24 June 1985, Page 16

Refusal to give name ‘was in public interest’

By

ANDREW BEACH

of NZPA

Wellington

The Broadcasting Corporation acted in the public interest in not revealing the name of an informant when asked to do so by the then Minister of Broadcasting, according to the former Ombudsman, Sir George taking. Dr lan Shearer, Minister of Broadcasting in the last National Government, had asked the corporation to reveal where Television New Zealand had obtained medical records on Dr Shearer's cabinet colleague, the late Mr Keith Allen. When the corporation refused, Dr Shearer asked Sir George, who retired on October 15 last year, to review the corporation’s decision.

A summary of Sir George’s decision is contained in the compendium of case notes of the Ombudsman released by the Chief Ombudsman, Mr Lester Castle.

The request to the Ombudsman resulted from a TVNZ news item about the health of Mr Allen, who was the centre of controversy last year when he said he had been mugged when

walking home from Parliament.

A television film crew encountered Mr Allen walking the same route a few nights later. Mr Allen said he bad hoped to lure bis assailant into "having another go.” A police inquiry failed to find any evidence of an assault on Mr Allen, and the then Prime Minister, Sir Robert Muldoon, said Mr Allen, a diabetic, had been suffering from a condition which led to a stumbling gait and slurred speech.

Mr Allen did not stand for re-election last year, and died in Tauranga soon after the snap election in July. In his decision, Sir George said Dr Shearer was defeated in the July General Election before the review was complete, but had asked the Ombudsman to maintain his request as a private citizen. The news item Dr Shearer complained about referred to a medical report prepared for the police by a Wellington neurosurgeon and to the contents of that report. Dr Shearer asked the corporation, under the Official Information Act, to disclose

the name of the person who had given the information to TVNZ. It refused ■’ to name the informant, and Dr Shearer asked Sir George to review that decision.

In his ruling, Sir George said the Minister claimed the corporation’s decision was based on the argument that it was in the public interest not to prejudice the supply of information given to journalists in confidence.

“He argued that while the confidentiality of journalists’ sources of information was certainly a consideration, there were opposing policy considerations that outweighed the interest in protecting the corporation’s source of information.”

Sir George said he asked Dr Shearer if the Minister did not already have the powers to force the corporation to grant his request. Dr Shearer replied he did not.

Sir George said the corporation had refused the request because it considered the release of the information would be contrary to some of the provisions of the Official Information Act. The corporation argued

that one section of the act recognised the principle that news sources should not be divulged. That section protected confidential information where making it available would be j likely to prejudice the supply of similar information, and it was in the public interest that such information continued to be supplied. The corporation had referred to the New Zealand Journalists’ Union code of ethics which requires members to “observe professional secrecy in matters revealed in confidence to the furthest limits of law or conscience.” Although corporation staff were not members of the union, the corporation was confident they subscribed to the same set of principles. In his ruling, Sir George said he had reviewed legal authorities and precedents. "The Commissioner of Police told me during my investigation that the police knew the name of the source. The question of the possible prosecution of the person who provided information from the report to TVNZ was still under consideration.

“In my view, disclosure of the name of the source to the requester was not necessary in the interests of justice.”