A complaint made by New Zealand Kiwifruit Growers Incorporated to the press council over rural publication Straight Furrow's reporting of New Zealand kiwifruit grower payments last year has been rejected.

The October 1 article looked into apparent discrepancies in the pricing for New Zealand kiwifruit in Europe and quoted official data on import prices of kiwifruit plus a reputable source in the form of the editor of World Kiwifruit Review, the council says.

In October last year, SunLive reported that NZKGI was to make an official complaint to the New Zealand Press Council over what it claimed was unbalanced and inaccurate reporting in the front page article by Jamie Ball headed 'NZ kiwifruit undercut by rivals”.

In response to the complaint by NZKGI, the Press Council says: 'The article included a range of views that showed a complex pricing system around the world for selling kiwifruit, but also a balancing view from the complainant himself that Zespri, New Zealand's single point of entry, was achieving a premium pricing over other countries.”

After the article, Zespri and the complainant were asked if they would like to write an article giving their view of the questions at issue. Both letters were published on October 15.

'Mr Trebilco complained that the article failed the Press Council principles of accuracy, fairness and balance. He gave two examples where he believed the article was in error,” says the council finding.

'The first was the claim that Chilean growers earned more than New Zealand growers for their fruit.

'Secondly, was the statement that from 2001 to 2012, average NZ grower payments fell for the first eight years before eventually lifting to just 5 per cent above where they first began.”

The Press Council said it was clear there could be ambiguities in any discussion of kiwifruit prices and returns to growers, as stated in the article and the Zespri letter published on October 15.

'However, the article made clear where its information had come from and the World Kiwifruit Review editor, Desmond Bourke, was quoted as saying "New Zealand has a slight edge over Chile in some years, and Chile over New Zealand in other years" in the EU databases from Eurostat on kiwifruit imports.

The council noted the second claimed error again stemmed from the reporter's use of the World Kiwifruit Review. The council said it might have been helpful to the reader if the publication had engaged more critically with the complexities of the statistics being used.

However, the article gave a far from negative picture of Zespri's achievement in marketing New Zealand kiwifruit, quoting a range of sources including the complainant.

Furthermore, the publication's readiness to invite and print the letters from the Zespri chairman, and that of the complainant, largely offset suggestions of lack of fairness and balance, and in the context of the whole article and the range of views that were given, the inaccuracies complained of did not have the significance to justify upholding the complaint.

The council therefore did not uphold the complaint. Read the full decision here.