The Media Council has not upheld a complaint about an RNZ story on the death of Jonathan Trubuhovich, who was assaulted by a cellmate in Mt Eden prison. The story was published on 10 December 2025, after Trubuhovich died in hospital 10 days after the assault.
It included details of Trubuhovich's criminal history. A small number of paragraphs were removed within a day of publication, after a complaint from members of Trubuhovich's family.
The article was part of a series on the issue of double-bunking in prisons and there are three homicide investigations relating to recent deaths in shared cells.
A further complaint, which has now been considered by the Media Council, argued that the detailed description of Trubuhovich's criminal history breached a number of the Council's principles.
The Council said Trubuhovich's background was an unavoidable element of the story - it provided some explanation for how he came to be incarcerated while awaiting sentence and, particularly as it related to his mental health, pertained to his suitability for double-bunking.
The information was contained in a sentencing report that was to be tendered in court as part of Trubuhovich's sentencing hearing, was compiled by a medical professional and supplied to RNZ by Trubuhovich's lawyer.
Dealing first with Principles (8) Confidentiality and (9) Subterfuge, the Media Council said it could find no breach. The article was based on court documents provided to RNZ by Mr Trubuhovich's lawyer, and interviews freely given.
The Council also found no breach of Principle (7) Discrimination and Diversity. There was no undue emphasis on Trubuhovich's race, gender, or sexual orientation.
Where his mental health was traversed, it was relevant to his suitability for incarceration in a shared cell.
The Principles (1) Accuracy, Fairness and Balance and (2) Privacy triggered deeper discussion.
The Council said: "While some of Mr Trubuhovich's family may dispute the veracity of information contained in the sentencing report, it is a document that was to be considered by the judge when deciding an appropriate sentence for Mr Trubuhovich. It was supplied to RNZ legitimately, and RNZ was entitled to report its contents, to the extent that it provided meaningful context to the story."
On fairness and balance, the Council said that the amendment RNZ made to the article showed it was possible to tell the story with adequate context while not dwelling on Mr Trubuhovich's history.
"It might not have been wise to include all the detail of the original article, and the Council welcomes the editing out of three of the original paragraphs relating to the victim's past."
On Principle (2) Privacy, the ruling said: "While the Media Council is sympathetic to the family in a time of grief, in this case we believe the public interest in issues around the justice system warrants the reporting of this case."
The complaint was not upheld, the full judgment can be read here: Media Council - *X against Radio New Zealand
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