Television New Zealand has been ordered to pay $1500 in compensation for breach of privacy after a man's arrest for cannabis possession was shown on TV2's Police Ten 7 programme.
In what it calls a landmark decision, the Broadcasting Standards Authority has also ordered TVNZ to pay Crown costs of $1000.
The episode of Police Ten 7, which aired last July, showed police executing a search warrant for drugs at a Northland property, from where the man had allegedly been dealing.
The item concluded by saying that, while there was no evidence the complainant was dealing or growing cannabis, he was charged with possession and fined $150.
The man complained that his and his family's privacy had been breached and they had received unwanted attention from people they hardly knew.
