Ottawa, June 23, 2000 – The Canadian Broadcast Standards Council (CBSC) today released its decision concerning a broadcast of CJKR-FM’s (Winnipeg) morning show in which the radio announcer commented on an historical action taken by the Chinese government to eliminate all domestic animals. The comments were followed by a parody song about Chinese restaurants serving cat rather than chicken, beef, fish or pork. A listener complained that the broadcast was “culturally insensitive and also served to dehumanize and perpetuate stereotypes.”
The Prairie Regional Council considered the decision under the Canadian Association of Broadcasters’ Code of Ethics. The Council found no Code breach, stating that the combination of the host’s comments and the song lyrics were not a “commentary on the Chinese people at all”, but rather “constitute a commentary in small part on the Chinese Government and in larger part on Chinese restaurants”, neither of which is protected by the human rights provision of the Code. The Council stated:
The foregoing “humourous” suggestion may be outrageous or in bad taste. If the latter, it is, as the Council has often said, simply a choice for the listener with the on/off switch. If the former, though, the Council notes that there is no protection granted under the human rights provision of the Code for a profession or an occupation and being a Chinese restaurateur, or any other type of business person of any other ethnic origin, will not entitle one to protection any more than being a policeman did in the case of CKLZ-FM re Announcer Comments (CBSC Decision 94/95-0113, December 18, 1996).
In its decision, the Council also addressed the complainant’s expression of surprise that the government agency responsible for the oversight of all broadcast matters in Canada, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), would refer his complaint to the CBSC, “an organization that is set up to police the very members who fund it”. The Council stated:
the Commission has retained a self-regulatory approach high on its agenda... Self-regulation is, indeed, an approach used broadly in professions of all kinds, including doctors, lawyers and accountants, to name only a few of those associations which have created bodies to police their members and ensure a high standard of service to their constituency. Moreover, this Council has no hesitation in observing that it has rendered hundreds of decisions, all of which can be found on its web site and many of which, having been rendered against broadcasters, clearly demonstrate the CBSC’s ability to render decisions without any interference on the part of those who fund the Council.
Canada’s private broadcasters have themselves created industry standards in the form of Codes on ethics, gender portrayal and television violence by which they expect the members of their profession will abide. In 1990, they also created the CBSC, which is the self-regulatory body with the responsibility of administering those professional broadcast Codes, as well as the Code dealing with journalistic practices first created by the Radio Television News Directors Association of Canada (RTNDA) in 1970. More than 430 radio and television stations and specialty services from across Canada are members of the Council.
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All CBSC decisions, Codes, links to members’ and other web sites, and related information are available on the World Wide Web at www.cbsc.ca. For more information, please contact the National Chair of the CBSC, Ron Cohen, at (###) ###-####.