Ottawa, October 30 1992 - The Ontario Regional Council of the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council (CBSC) has found that a CFRB-AM newscast of May 4, 1992 did not breach an industry code. The newscast described, among other events, a local shooting by a police officer.
The Regional Council found that the newscast did not contain “abusive or discriminatory material or comment based on matters of race”. However, the Regional Council noted that the broadcaster had not replied directly to the complainant, but rather, to the CBSC. Therefore, the Regional Council added, “broadcasters are encouraged to deal directly with complainants about station programming.”
The CBSC was established by the Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) to provide a self-regulatory mechanism for private sector broadcasters. The Council was endorsed by the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) in August, 1991 and administers the CAB’s Code of Ethics, the Voluntary Code Regarding Violence on Television, and the Sex-Role Portrayal Code.
The CBSC Ontario Regional Council is composed equally of public and broadcaster members. At September 30, 1992, the Chair of the Ontario Regional Council was John Radford, and the other Regional Council members were: Marianne Barrie, Susan Fish, Paul Fockler, Don Luzzi and Robert Stanbury.
The decision is attached.
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For more information, please contact Mimi Fullerton, CBSC National Chair, at (###) ###-####.