The country's biggest newspaper, the New Zealand Herald, fell "sadly short" of highest professional standards in a story about the waitress who had her hair pulled by Prime Minister John Key, the media watchdog says.
In a newly released ruling, the Press Council says then-Herald columnist Rachel Glucina failed to properly represent herself to Aucklander Amanda Bailey, who anonymously complained Mr Key had tugged her hair on numerous occasions at her cafe.
Ms Bailey wrote on the left-wing Daily Blog complaining about the incidents in April, prompting an apology from the prime minister and a media uproar.
Shortly after, the Herald ran a story by Glucina revealing Ms Bailey's name and featuring photos and an interview with the waitress.
Ms Bailey complained she had been duped into doing the article, saying her employers, friends of Glucina's, had told her she was a PR consultant who would release a media statement for her.
The council said there was an "element of subterfuge" in what Glucina had done in not making clear to Ms Bailey she was a reporter and there was not enough public interest to justify it.
"The onus was on Ms Glucina as a professional media person to make the position completely clear to all parties, particularly to Ms Bailey, with whom she had had no previous contact, who was in a vulnerable position, and whose interests could well have been in conflict with those of the cafe owner's," it said.
The Press Council was concerned with maintaining the press in accordance with the highest professional standards, it said.
"The NZ Herald has fallen sadly short of those standards in this case."
The multiple complainants did not include Ms Bailey herself.
The Herald has denied the accusations of subterfuge and Glucina has since left the company.
It remains unclear whether Ms Bailey's employers knew the article would be printed in the Herald.
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