The Free Speech Union is calling on the Queenstown Lakes District Council to reverse its decision to blacklist Crux Media editor Peter Newport from council media access, warning that the move sets a dangerous precedent for press freedom in New Zealand.
Mr Newport has spent a year investigating the sewage discharged from Queenstown's wastewater plant into the Shotover River. Three days before RNZ confirmed E. coli levels almost four times the safe swimming guideline, QLDC's lawyers locked him out of media briefings, press benches, and any contact with council staff.
"Councils must not double as media regulators," says Free Speech Union CEO Jillaine Heather. "Press access to council meetings, briefings and staff is at the heart of democratic accountability. When the body being reported on gets to decide who is allowed to report on it, that is the end of independent local journalism."
"QLDC’s stated reason is that Crux has withdrawn from the New Zealand Media Council. That is a voluntary industry body. By the council’s logic, every independent reporter, every Substacker, and every blogger covering local government can be locked out at the council’s discretion. That is not a standard any democracy should accept."
The Free Speech Union takes no position on the merits of individual Crux stories. Eight of thirteen Media Council complaints against Crux since 2020 have been upheld. The point here is procedural, not editorial.
"The remedy for poor journalism is correction, complaint, and where warranted, defamation law," says Heather. "It is not exclusion from public meetings by the very body the reporter is scrutinising."
QLDC had dismissed the Shotover data as an anomaly. The Otago Regional Council is now investigating. The Chief Ombudsman has already found QLDC acted contrary to legislation in its handling of official information requests, and separate inquiries have surfaced widespread failure to follow its own procurement rules. Crux has been at the centre of all of it.
"The timing speaks for itself," says Heather. "QLDC must restore Crux's media access immediately, and every council in New Zealand should make clear it will not use membership of a voluntary body as a barrier to public access. A council that cannot win the argument should not be allowed to silence the reporter."
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