Media grapples with misinformation in Fair Pay fight
Hayden Donnell, Mediawatch producer
Workers and employers took up
predictable positions over legislation to usher in Fair Pay Agreements now
being scrutinised in Parliament. A concerted campaign
to have them declared illegitimate has been labeled as ‘misinformation’ by
critics - and it’s given the media a problem too.
On 16 May, the New Zealand Herald
carried a headline that read like bad news for the government and supporters of
its main labour market reform.
It read: 'Proposal to change Fair
Pay Agreements condemned by UN agency, Business NZ'.
The story went on to say that the
United Nation’s International Labour Organisation
(ILO) had placed New Zealand on a list of ‘worst case’ breaches of
international labour treaties, alongside Afghanistan and Venezuela, and
just ahead of Nigeria.
But there were a few problems with the
report.
New Zealand hadn’t been condemned by
the ILO. It was not on a list of ‘worst case’ breaches of international labour
agreements.
And the reason it appeared ‘just
ahead of Nigeria’ was that the ILO’s list was ordered alphabetically.
The headline on the actual list put
out by the UN agency didn’t mention worst cases or international labour
treaties at all. Its entry on Fair Pay Agreements appeared under the
impenetrable title ‘Preliminary list of cases as submitted by the social
partners Committee on the Application of Standards’, or in plainer English:
‘Stuff we are going to consider in future’.
It turned out the Herald had
based its story on information provided by Business NZ, which created the
‘worst cases’ title and implied the ILO had already condemned Fair Pay
Agreements.
Business NZ chief executive Kirk
Hope described the list as a “naughty forty for labour relations” asserting
that the legislation breaches ILO
Convention 98, which says “workers' and employers' organisations shall
enjoy adequate protection against any acts of interference by each other or
each other's agents.”
At that time, the Herald
business editor Duncan Bridgeman told Mediawatch
they accepted the information “in good faith” from Business NZ.
“We contacted the ILO for a response
to Business NZ’s comments. However, we accept we could have looked closer at
the detail of the source report,” he said.
Business NZ’s employment relations
policy manager Paul Mackay admitted its headline was altered when Stuff
reported this mischaracterisation, but he added: “It doesn’t have to
be a past tense breach. An intention to breach is just as bad”.
This week the ILO meeting in Geneva
examined that alleged intention to breach, and did
not recommend any review or change to the proposed Fair Pay Agreements
legislation.
It urged the government to “continue
to examine” the draft legislation in consultation with unions and employer
groups while ensuring it complies with international labour treaties.
Business NZ issued
a press release claiming the ILO findings indicate that the Bill currently
doesn't comply with Convention 98 and “have been misinterpreted by some
commentators”.
But one source with inside knowledge
of the ILO’s decision told Mediawatch there’s
nothing in the decision to say the current legislation breaches any labour
treaties.
“Most of the discussion of BusinessNZ’s complaint at the ILO suggested the legislation
was not in breach, with the Australian government being one of those who spoke
in favour of fair pay
agreements,” the NBR political editor Brent Edwards reported this
week.
A billboard
from Business NZ on Fair Pay Agreements legislation. Photo: Robbie Nicol
This saga is part of a
concerted Business NZ campaign against Fair Pay Agreements that's been criticised as overblown or misleading by workers’ advocates
and some politicians.
Its online campaign called 'Your
Work Your Way' calls on New Zealanders to reject FPAs. Business NZ has
also been running digital and radio advertising with slogans including: “Fair
pay agreements are like socks for Christmas. Nobody wants them".
(Fact-check: socks can be a pretty
good present if they're the right socks, and some workers might see a potential
pay rise as an even better one.)
Other Business NZ claims have been criticised as hyperbolic
or outright false by people including Workplace Relations Minister Michael Wood.
One billboard says that if “10% of
workers want a FPA, 100% of workers have to get one.” They won’t. Any
agreement would have to be ratified by a majority of workers.
Business NZ’s opposition to FPAs is
no surprise.
Kirk Hope rejected
the government’s offer to be the default bargaining party for employers six
months ago, saying the “scheme will do more harm than good to businesses and
employees”.
But supporters and opponents alike
would have expected Business NZ’s objections to be grounded in genuine
philosophical and practical differences. Instead its campaign has sometimes
strayed into the type of misinformation that can damage an organisation’s
reputation.
Auckland Council requested an
explanation from Business NZ and a spokesperson told
Stuff its annual membership renewal would be reconsidered this month.
All this presents a conundrum for
the media too.
Business NZ counts dozens of major
New Zealand companies as members and it has an important perspective on this
legislation that deserves to be reported.
But while Press Council principles
require reporting should be balanced, it must also be accurate.
If one important party is serving up
information that’s not true, that puts media outlets' compliance with that
standard in jeopardy even if they stick to the customary ‘both-sides’ framing.
Earlier this week TVNZ
news published a story headlined: 'Employers, workers divided on Fair
Pay Agreements'.
They were certainly at odds with
each other, but the story said the ILO had said “tweaks may be needed in the
final legislation” - a line which isn’t actually in the organisation’s
statement.
This week Mediawatch
asked Business NZ whether it regrets altering the ILO’s words to say New
Zealand had landed on a list of 'worst case breaches of international labour
treaties', or asserting it was part of a "naughty forty".
We also asked whether it stands by
its recent statement that the Fair Pay Agreements Bill in its current form is
“not compliant with ILO Convention 98”.
It hasn't responded so far.
Rebecca Macfie,
an experienced labour reporter who’s covered Fair Pay Agreements for The
Listener and Newsroom,
said Business NZ's campaign against the legislation was the most fervent one
she's seen since the Helen Clark-led Labour government introduced the Employment
Relations Act in 2000.
"I think they've glanced over
the line from hard lobbying. I think it's inaccurate what they've presented,
particularly in two media statements," she said.
"Some of the ways that they've
reported on what the ILO committee has ruled ... is wrong. You just need to
look at the words and compare the two documents.
“I have great respect for the people
who run their organization - and I deal with them on the basis of respect and
that that they bring expertise to this stuff, just as I do when I'm talking to
the union movement. So I think that they've made a mistake here in the way
they've approached this,” she said.
Macfie said the campaign has in some cases ‘hacked’ the media,
using its commitment to reflecting all sides of a debate to get it to reprint
questionable or in some cases untrue statements.
Her approach has been to either disregard what she sees as inaccurate statements and
report instead on the documents at hand.
"We have to report factually,
and in this particular case that wasn't hard because the documents were all
there."
In other words, she sticks to the
old adage: if one person tells you it's fine and
another says it's raining, the journalist's job isn't to report both sides -
it's to look out the window.