Sky New Zealand removes Sky News Australia for showing Christchurch gunman's attack footage

Independent broadcaster pulls Rupert Murdoch’s company content off air ‘to ensure coverage doesn’t compromise ongoing investigations’

Sky New Zealand has removed Sky News Australia from its platform after video filmed by the alleged gunman in Friday’s mosque shootings was broadcast by the Australian channel.

The New Zealand broadcaster said it pulled the Australian 24-hour news channel from its live feed because it could not be sure the “distressing” footage would not appear.

“We stand in support of our fellow New Zealanders and have made the decision to remove Sky News Australia from our platform until we are confident that the distressing footage from yesterday’s events will not be shared,” it said in a tweet reportedly posted on Saturday morning, but was later deleted.

The network later changed its message on Twitter to say it was “working with our colleagues” at Sky News Australia “to ensure coverage doesn’t compromise ongoing investigations”.

Sky News Australia’s decision to repeatedly broadcast the Christchurch attack footage – originally livestreamed on social media using a GoPro device – provoked widespread condemnation in both Australia and New Zealand.

Sky New Zealand is an independent broadcaster and is not owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, despite normally making Sky News Australia content available on its platforms.

In the hours after Friday’s mass shootings at two mosques, which saw 49 people killed, police in New Zealand urged people not to share any of the attack footage online.

It was originally broadcast on Facebook, but the company removed it and the alleged terrorist’s accounts from its platforms once alerted by police.

Both YouTube owner Google and Twitter have said they are working to remove any copies of the attack video from appearing their platforms.

In the UK, Downing Street demanded media companies remove footage of the attack after several major news organisations choose to carry segments on their websites.

A spokeswoman for Theresa May said: “Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other providers have taken action to remove the video and other propaganda related to the attack.

“The government has been clear that all companies need to act more quickly to remove terrorist content. There should be no safe spaces for terrorists to promote and share their extreme views and radicalise others.”

The Mirror removed the footage on Friday. Its publishing company’s editor-in-chief Lloyd Embley said: “We should not have carried this. It is not in line with our policy relating to terrorist propaganda videos.”