Sainsbury sorry for Close Up story

Olivia Hemus

MARK SAINSBURY: Closes Up's Mark Sainsbury has apologised to viewers on national TV for a story on the show over which it has been accused of plagiarism.

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Close Up's Mark Sainsbury has apologised to viewers on national TV for a story the show ran last week, over which it has been accused of plagiarism.

Last Thursday, Close Up ran a segment analysing one family's use of foreign-made goods.

New Zealand Herald columnist Ana Samways later highlighted the story was at-times a verbatim duplicate of an American ABC story which ran in January.

At the close of last night's programme, Sainsbury said he wanted to address something ''that's been raised in other media over the past few days''.

''The story we screened on Thursday night was inspired by a similar concept produced by our affiliate partner ABC America. Unfortunately, the story produced took the inspiration too far, a fact we were rightly picked up on ... we let you down and for that we apologise.''

Sainsbury said the matter was being ''thoroughly investigated''.

''We are disappointed this has happened as we set high journalistic standards for ourselves.''

At the close of his mea culpa, Sainsbury signed off with the phrase:

''That's New Zealand's Close Up,'' adding extra emphasis to the ''New Zealand''.

Earlier, head of news and current affairs Anthony Flannery ordered a wide-ranging review of how the network used overseas footage.

''A situation like this hasn't happened before and sufficient concern has been raised by it to require clear editorial policy in this area,'' he told NZPA.

He wanted to see greater oversight from executive producers when ''re-cutting'' overseas stories, he said.

- © Fairfax NZ News