Journalists guilty of privilege breach

Press, 14 October 1985, Page 14

Journalists guilty of privilege breach

PA Wellington Two members of the “New Zealand Times” editorial staff have been found guilty of a breach of Parliamentary privilege, Parliament heard.

The Acting Leader of the House, Mr Hunt, said the Privileges Committee had found the newspaper’s editor, Mr Bob Fox, and its political reporter, Roger Foley, in breach of privilege. The breach related to an article written by Mr Foley and which appeared in the “Times” on September 8.

The committee recommended that the Speaker withdraw Mr Foley’s full accreditation to the Parliamentary press gallery and substitute a weekly accreditation until the end of the session.

This means the removal of office accommodation at Parliament.) It further recommended that the Speaker withdraw from Mr Foley the privilege of using Bellamys facilities until the end of the session.

However, it decided that no action should be taken against Mr Fox, who had

accepted full responsibility for what had been published, said Mr Hunt. This was because Mr Fox was not personally involved with the article and because he would soon be vacating the editorship. The committee’s report was accepted by Parliament.

The article by Mr Foley described how the Foreign Affairs and Defence Select Committee would consider at its next meeting a special report on disarmament and arms control, said Mr Hunt. It quoted and paraphrased recommendations said to be in the draft report. Mr Hunt, said Parliament’s Standing Orders prohibited at the publication or disclosure of part of the proceedings of a select committee before that committee had reported to the House.

He said the committee regarded Mr Foley’s transgression of the privileges of the House as a serious matter.

“He is an experienced Parliamentary journalist who could have been under no misapprehension as to

what he was doing,” he said. “The committee does not accept his protestations of innocence or ignorance as to his handling of the document which came into his hands.”

Mr Hunt said the committee noted that this was not the first occasion that Mr Fox as editor of the “Times” Was found to have committed a breach of privilege.

He was found to be in breach in respect of an article published in the newspaper in 1982.

“The committee considers that this situation should be a matter of some concern to the publishers of the ‘The Times,’ as it suggests that the newspaper’s procedure’s for identifying and dealing with potential breaches of privilege are deficient,” said Mr Hunt

Because Mr Foley refused to disclose from whom he got the draft report, the committee was not able to establish whether other persons had committed breaches of privilege, he said.