BSA found TVNZ misrepresented Trump

A BSA decision:

TVNZ breached broadcasting standards in its reporting of comments by President Trump in an item on the arrest of the man suspected of shooting conservative activist Charlie Kirk, the Broadcasting Standards Authority has found.

The Authority has upheld three complaints that the 1News item, broadcast on 13 September 2025, breached the accuracy standard by misrepresenting the President’s comment, “I couldn’t care less”, in response to a question.

The report’s introduction stated, “[W]hen the President was asked what he’d do to unite the country after this tragedy, he said, ‘I couldn’t care less’, blaming the radical left, and vowing to go after political violence”. This was accompanied by a large banner with a photo of Trump and the words, “I couldn’t care less”.

So viewers were led to think Trump said he didn’t care about the shooting or uniting the country. But in fact:

The BSA found this was inaccurate, as Trump actually said: “Well, I’ll tell you something that’s gonna get me in trouble, but I couldn’t care less”. It found the obvious interpretation was that the phrase about not caring related to getting in trouble for comments he was about to make. 

Very different.