Watchdog tells TVNZ to explain why it tried to spin the Kamahl Santamaria scandal as a 'family emergency'

Friday, 11 August 2023

The ex-host resigned from TVNZ’s Breakfast show only a month after starting at the company.

Chief Ombudsman Peter Boshier has asked TVNZ to explain why it tried to spin the inappropriate workplace behaviour scandal of Kamahl Santamaria as a “family emergency”.

Boshier has been investigating TVNZ’s handling of the matter for months, dealing directly with chief executive Simon Power – who has since resigned – the Privacy Commissioner’s office and Santamaria.

While deciding TVNZ was right to withhold a stack of documents from Stuff under the Official Information Act – over privacy, confidentiality and legal issues – Boshier has also decided the public is entitled to “transparency and accountability for how TVNZ handled this high-profile incident”.

Specifically, the way the state-owned broadcaster portrayed the cause of Santamaria’s absence from work as being over a private family matter “did not reflect reality”, Boshier said.

“The phrase ‘family emergency’ did not reflect reality and this has been at the forefront of my thinking,” Boshier’s said in a decision released to Stuff.

“I consider there is a significant and prevailing public interest in TVNZ explaining its decision to describe Mr Santamaria’s screen absence as being due to a ‘family emergency’. As such, I have recommended the release of a summary statement.”

Kamahl Santamaria lasted 32 days hosting Breakfast. Since the TVNZ scandal, the Emmy-nominated broadcaster has set up his own website and podcast, billed on a platform of integrity and high morals.

TVNZ’s framing of the scandal disintegrated when Stuff broke the news that at least one woman in the newsroom had complained about inappropriate behaviour from Emmy-nominated Santamaria.

Santamaria lasted just 32 days co-hosting Breakfast before resigning in May 2022. The scandal also cost the job of TVNZ executive Paul Yurisich after an independent review by employment lawyer Margaret Robins.

Boshier’s decision said “I do not disagree” that the family matter TVNZ had presented to the public was a consequence of Santamaria’s absence from work, rather than the cause, and that TVNZ abandoned its original PR once the true cause of Santamaria’s absence was revealed.

The Ombudsman’s decision also pointed to the accountability of public sector chief executives.

“The public has a legitimate and compelling interest in transparency and accountability for how TVNZ handled this high-profile incident. Public agencies, and their chief executives, are obligated to account for decisions.”

In a statement, a TVNZ spokesperson said: “TVNZ has received the Ombudsman’s letter and recommendation. We now need consider the recommendation [sic]”.

TVNZ has until August 29 to tell Boshier what it's going to do to “give effect” to his recommendation.

Recommendations under the Ombudsmen Act are not binding, but are normally accepted. If recommendations are not acted upon to the Ombudsman’s satisfaction, the matter can be reported to the Prime Minister and then to Parliament.

Simon Power was TVNZ’s chief executive at the time of the Santamaria scandal.

In the days after the scandal broke, Stuff reported TVNZ’s then-chief executive Power had apologised to staff over the “family emergency” claim. Stuff understands Power addressed staff saying the description was “wrong” and as chief executive “I apologise”.

Power, whose resignation was announced in April this year, also admitted at the time that there had been “many lessons learnt over the last few days”. He did not, however, say what those lessons were.

Power could not be reached for comment on the Ombudsman’s decision.

Brent McAnulty, TVNZ’s top lawyer, is now acting chief executive.

Lawyer Brent McAnulty, now acting chief executive, said he had “nothing more to add” when Stuff called him in May 2022 about TVNZ’s claim Santamaria was away for a “family emergency”.

Stuff phoned McAnulty the day before the truth about Santamaria’s absence was published. When asked a number of times in that call about complaints against Santamaria, and, whether TVNZ stood by its description of a “family emergency”, McAnulty said TVNZ had “nothing more to add”.

But the Ombudsman – an independent Officer of Parliament – thinks TVNZ should have more to add.

“In my view, because the public interest in disclosure outweighs the privacy interests identified, I consider the release of a summary statement is appropriate. Consequently, I have recommended to TVNZ that it should release a summary statement which includes a timeline of events from 19 April 2022 (when Mr Santamaria started his employment with TVNZ) through to 27 July 2022 (when Margaret Robins’ review was released) [and] an explanation of why TVNZ used the phrase ‘family emergency’.”

Stuff has approached Broadcasting Minister Willie Jackson for comment, including whether he believes the public are owed an apology from TVNZ.

A year after the scandal, Santamaria attempted to revive his career with his own website and podcast.

Billed on a platform of integrity and high morals, Santamaria has pitched it as “news without the controversy, the outrage, the click-bait, or the agenda”.

In March, Stuff reported the newsroom at the National Business Review had told the publication’s owner they were “uncomfortable” with Santamaria turning up for a meeting and had “no interest in working with him”.

Co-editor Hamish McNicol confirmed Santamaria had turned up to NBR’s Auckland newsroom on January 24, where the former TVNZ host met with NBR owner Todd Scott.

McNicol said Scott had told him the meeting was in a “personal capacity” – but Santamaria’s presence in the office still made people “uncomfortable” and it was enough for the newsroom to tell Scott they did not want to see Santamaria become a colleague.