WELLINGTON: New Zealand’s major media outlets vowed Wednesday to prevent the man charged with the Christchurch mosque shooting from using his trial as a platform for extremist propaganda.
Australian Brenton Tarrant is accused of shooting dead 50 people and injuring another 39 in March 15 attacks on two mosques where worshippers were gathered for Friday prayers.
The self-avowed white supremacist targeted Muslims and posted a rambling “manifesto” online before the attack detailing his extremist beliefs.
The New Zealand Media Freedom Committee, which represents the country’s five largest news outlets, said the accused “may attempt to use the trial as a platform to amplify white supremacist and/or terrorist ideology.”
It said editors had agreed to a set of guidelines to prevent this happening at the trial, the date of which is yet to be set.
Among the measures, they pledged to “limit any coverage of statements that actively champion white supremacist or terrorist ideology, including the alleged gunman’s manifesto.”
They will also avoid reporting on or broadcasting “any message, imagery, symbols or signals” by the accused or his associates that promote extremism.
Tarrant, 28, is currently being held in a maximum security prison in Auckland and undergoing psychiatric tests to determine if he is mentally fit to stand trial.
His next scheduled court appearance is on June 14.
The New Zealand government has barred downloads of Tarrant’s manifesto and the livestream footage he posted of the attacks, although local media voluntarily avoided them before the ban anyway.
However, despite their best intentions not to spread extremist content, some New Zealand media outlets have been criticized over some Christchurch-related stories.
A provocative tweet from British right-winger Katie Hopkins about Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern received extensive coverage last week, prompting national broadcaster RNZ to comment: “Don’t feed the troll.”
New Zealand media set rules for mosque shooting trial
New Zealand media set rules for mosque shooting trial
- Tarrant, 28, is currently being held in a maximum security prison in Auckland and undergoing psychiatric tests to determine if he is mentally fit to stand trial
Eurovision Sport, Camb.ai to provide live subtitling for Paralympic Winter Games
- Partnership aims to increase accessibility for all audiences
- Milano Cortina Games run from Friday to March 15
LONDON: Eurovision Sport, the European Broadcasting Union’s free-to-air streaming platform, will provide live and on-demand subtitling for coverage of the Milano Cortina 2026 Paralympic Winter Games in partnership with AI language company Camb.ai
The service will run across all competition days, allowing viewers to stream all six Paralympic Winter Games sports on Eurovision Sport with real-time subtitles. The Games open on Friday and run through March 15.
Camb.ai will supply contextual speech-to-text transcription for both live and catch-up coverage, which the organizers said would support accessibility without altering the editorial integrity of broadcasts.
Eurovision Sport Managing Director Alan Fagan said the aim was to make the Games available to “the widest possible audience,” by scaling up digital accessibility across every event on the platform.
The initiative forms part of the EBU’s most extensive digital coverage of a Paralympic Winter Games to date and complements member broadcasters’ linear output.
It also reflects a wider industry push to make live sport easier to follow for viewers watching without sound, people with hearing impairments and audiences consuming content on demand.
Camb.ai’s Chief Technology Officer Akshat Prakash said the company was proud to deepen its partnership with Eurovision Sport, describing the platform as a leader in applying new technology to sports coverage.
The two organizations began working together in 2024, when they delivered what they described as Europe’s first AI-powered real-time translated sports commentary during European Athletics events.
