Weatherston trial coverage complaints upheld

Complaints over graphic testimony from the Clayton Weatherston murder trial broadcast on One News have been upheld by New Zealand's broadcasting watchdog.

The trial contained a large amount of graphic testimony regarding the brutal murder of Sophie Elliott by the former university tutor who stabbed her to death in her Dunedin bedroom in January last year.

Several complaints about coverage of the trial were made to the Broadcasting Standards Authority.

The decisions released by the BSA show TVNZ received three complaints over their coverage of the trial.

The BSA found that One News footage of Weatherston's testimony where he described his attack on Ms Elliott, breached the standards of good taste and decency.

Two complaints centred on a particular piece of testimony where he vividly described the stabbing.

Viewers would not have expected the level of explicit detail provided in the testimony to be broadcast, the BSA ruled.

Footage of the prosecutor repeatedly swearing also breached broadcasting standards.

A complaint that Weatherston's description of how he met Ms Elliott breached privacy standards was not upheld, with the BSA ruling that details of relationship were not sufficiently explicit to require a warning and there was a high degree of public interest.

- © Fairfax NZ News