AI Chat Search Browse Media On This Day Map Quotations Timeline Research Free Datasets Remembered About Contact

Islam prog will avoid gay issues

Mon 8 Mar 2004 In: New Zealand Daily News

The producer of an Islamic television programme which featured a Muslim cleric saying gays should be put to death has promised its broadcaster that future episodes will not touch on "controversial issues." Voice of Islam, broadcast on Auckland's Triangle TV, had a complaint against it upheld by the Broadcasting Standards Authority last week, who ruled the offending episode “hate speech”, ordering Triangle to broadcast an apology. Triangle's director of programming Hans Versluys says that the station outlined its concerns “very clearly” to the programme's producer following the original broadcast on 29 September last year. “BSA decisions on these matters are a good guide for us and our (future) programme makers for what is and isn't possible on NZ TV,” he says. “We usually lean to the liberal side in matters of speech - and considering the reactions we get to all sorts of different programmes, this has been good policy, as few complaints referred to the BSA have been upheld against us in the past.” Viewer Doug Clayton, who took his complaint to the BSA last year after Triangle rejected it, says he is pleased with the outcome. "Triangle TV did the right thing by apologising," he says. "We all have to find a way to get along. If we don't co-exist peacefully everybody loses."    

Credit: GayNZ.com News Staff

First published: Monday, 8th March 2004 - 12:00pm

Rights Information

This page displays a version of a GayNZ.com article that was automatically harvested before the website closed. All of the formatting and images have been removed and some text content may not have been fully captured correctly. The article is provided here for personal research and review and does not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of PrideNZ.com. If you have queries or concerns about this article please email us