"The tobacco industry’s position was advanced in the programme by its representative, Mr Maguire. The Authority considers that while the Tobacco Institute may be unhappy about the extent of that coverage, the key questions concerning the industry’s legitimacy and Mr Delamere’s comments were put to Mr Maguire and his answers to these were broadcast. The questions appeared to the Authority to have been put to Mr Maguire in a straightforward way and the Authority considers that he had adequate opportunity to address the issues. Those were the relevant matters requiring balance. In response to the complaint that the programme should have included balancing material from people who enjoyed smoking, the Authority notes that the Tobacco Institute has not made clear what further information was available from the industry or from smokers that would have illuminated better the points under discussion. Apart from information the Tobacco Institute said was given to Assignment programme makers about the tobacco industry’s support of a campaign to reduce smoking among young people, no other content appears to have been presented by the Tobacco Institute to the programme makers for inclusion in the programme. The Authority concurs with TVNZ’s observation that it is no longer debatable that smoking has harmful effects, and TVNZ was under no obligation to revisit that issue. As to the anti-smoking campaign information relating to children, the Authority accepts that its inclusion in the programme might have shown both the Tobacco Institute and the tobacco companies in a better light and that, given the programme’s overall emphasis, it was arguably relevant. However, the Authority accepts that its inclusion was a matter for the editorial judgment for Assignment’s programme makers and it considers the failure to refer to that information was not sufficient in the circumstances to justify a finding of imbalance or partiality."