PHP, WP Query, WP/CP | Type: PHPFilter Custom Post Type by Taxonomy

Can be found on an Evo blog post with more explanation at the link below. Note: this throws an ‘unknown index’ error.

<h4>Filter News by Category</h4>
<form id="newslist" action="" method="GET"> <!--build the dynamic form-->
<select id="news" name="newscat" onchange="submit();">
    <option value="" <?php echo ($_GET['newscat'] == '' ) ? ' selected="selected" ' : ''; ?>>Show all news</option> 
    <?php $categories = get_categories('taxonomy=news-category&post_type=news'); 
    foreach ($categories as $category) : 
        echo '<option value="'.$category->name.'"'; 
        echo ($_GET['newscat'] == ''.$category->name.'') ? ' selected="selected"' : ''; 
        echo '>'.$category->name.'</option>'; 
    endforeach; 
    ?> 
</select> 
</form> 

<?php // let the queries begin 
$paged = ( get_query_var('paged') ) ? get_query_var('paged') : 1; 
if( !isset($_GET['newscat']) || '' == $_GET['newscat']) { // if nothing selected or 'show all' selected 
$newslist = new WP_Query( array( 
    'post_type' => 'news', 
    'posts_per_page' => 8, 
    'orderby' => 'DATE', 
    'paged' => $paged 
) ); 

} else { //if select value exists, the query that compares $_GET value and taxonomy term (name) 
$newscategory = $_GET['newscat']; //get filter value 
$newslist = new WP_Query( array( 
    'post_type' => 'news', 
    'posts_per_page' => 8, 
    'orderby' => 'DATE', 
    'paged' => $paged, 
    'tax_query' => array( //the taxonomy query 
        array( 
        'taxonomy' => 'news-category', 
        'field' => 'name', 
        'terms' => $newscategory 
        ) 
     ) 
)); 
} 

if ($newslist->have_posts()) : while ( $newslist->have_posts() ) : 
$newslist->the_post(); 
?>

SHOW RESULTS

<?php endwhile; 
else : 
echo '<p>There are no news items in that category.</p>'; 
endif; 
?>  
<?php wp_pagenavi( array( 'query' => $newslist ) ); ?> 
<? wp_reset_query(); ?>