This report has been superseded: see our list of good practice guides for more recent publications

• Nature
• Quality
• Scope
• Attribution

Nature

501
The content of any advertising or publicity material will consist of one or more of:

• facts
• analysis
• opinion or comment.

Quality

502
In general terms, we suggest that the content of any item of advertising or publicity should meet the Fair Trading Act 1986 benchmark of not being misleading or deceptive.

503
Advertising and publicity material should always be prepared using the highest standards of communication know-how and techniques. When material is intended to be developed on the basis of information gathered by survey, opinion poll, etc, the information-gathering process should itself be subject to the highest standards for such processes. To assist in meeting those standards, we have set out in a supplement to these Suggested Guidelines the criteria used by Statistics New Zealand to assess survey planning proposals and questionnaires.⁵

504
More specifically, the information presented should be:

• accurate;
• complete;
• fairly expressed; and
• when necessary, in a form that is lawful.

505
For material to be accurate it should conform to the ordinary meaning of the word. That which is held out to be the truth should be founded upon ascertainable facts, and carefully and precisely expressed in conformity with those facts. No claim or statement should be made which cannot be substantiated.

506
Material will be complete when it contains all the information necessary for a reader to make a proper assessment of the subject matter being addressed.

507
Information will be fairly expressed when it is written and presented in an unbiased and equitable manner. More particularly:

• The reader should always be able to distinguish clearly and easily between facts on the one hand, and analysis and opinion or comment on the other.
• When making a comparison, the information should not mislead the reader about the situations between which comparison is being made, and it should state explicitly the nature of the comparison being made.

508
Material will be lawful when, for example, it complies with any specific legal requirements as to form and content, or it is not defamatory.

Scope

509
The extensive obligations on a local authority to keep the public informed about proposed activities or other courses of action, and about the nature and consequences of decisions taken, result in decision-making having distinct ‘before’ and ‘after’ phases. Each phase can be reflected in the content of advertising or publicity material.

510
In the ‘before phase’, all relevant facts and other considerations should be taken into account and all points of view should be allowed to be aired. The aim of this phase is to achieve the widest possible objective and subjective contributions to the debate which leads to the decision.

511
In the ‘after phase’, all that matters are the particulars of what has been decided, and what they mean for the local authority, for the other parties directly affected, and for the district in general.

512
The advertising or publicity material should reflect the characteristics and limitations of the applicable phase, subject also to meeting any specific legal requirements.

513
Material relating to the ‘before phase’ should be comprehensive and neutral in presenting the differing facts and arguments being advanced. Specifically:

• Great care should be taken to avoid bias, especially when facts or arguments have to be summarised.
• Opinion or comment amounting to subjective judgment of the relative merits of differing facts or arguments should be avoided.
• Both advantages and disadvantages should be mentioned.

514
Material relating to the ‘after phase’ should be confined to a dispassionate statement of the matters decided and their implications. The latter could still be a point of debate, even though alternative views were aired and discarded during the ‘before phase’. The decision having been taken, however, the council’s corporate view must prevail.

Attribution

515
Every item of advertising or publicity paid for at public expense should be clearly identified with the local authority’s name.

516
Consistent with the normal requirements of accountability for the expenditure of public money, the material should also bear the name and position of the person who has authorised its issue. Who that person is will be determined in accordance with the local authority’s regime of delegations.

5: Statistics New Zealand has also published a Guide to Good Survey Design. Copies are available from its offices in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch at $24.95.