Close Up host Susan Wood's comments on an unscientific poll on gay relationships conducted by her programme have been deemed "unwise" by the Broadcasting Standards Authority. The comments were made on an episode of Close Up in December last year, in the lead-up to final vote in Parliament on the Civil Union Bill. The programme ran an 0900 phone poll asking the question "Should gay relationships be legally recognised?", with the overwhelming majority of callers paying 99 cents to say "no". Media watchdog group GayWatch and GayNZ.com lodged a joint complaint with TVNZ alleging that the presentation was unbalanced and inaccurate, and had been picked up by other media – including TVNZ's own news shows – and touted as an accurate barometer of public feeling which may affect politician's voting patterns. TVNZ declined to uphold the complaint, claiming it was obvious to the public that their 0900 polls were "transparently unscientific", and it was not necessary to point out to viewers that they were not. Likewise, it claimed that host Susan Wood's closing barb that it "makes you wonder which polls the government is relying on to say that this Bill has support" was "obviously" an expression of opinion. TVNZ also refused to take responsibility for how other news programmes responded to their poll, even when these shows were their own. The Broadcasting Standards Authority agreed, but advised caution in the future treatment of such issues. "Broadcasters should be wary of treating viewer polls on controversial issues of public importance with more weight than they merit, particularly where public debate has been, and continues to be, intense," stated the Authority in its final ruling. "In this respect, the Authority considers that the presenter's closing comment was unwise although it did not amount to a breach of broadcasting standards." GayWatch spokesman Christopher Dempsey feels the result is disappointing. "Yet another slap with a wet bus ticket," he said.