Ottawa, February 10, 1999 – The Canadian Broadcast Standards Council (CBSC) today released its decision concerning a noon news broadcast on CKRU-AM (Peterborough, Ontario). A listener complained that the newscaster has included his own opinion while reading the news, thereby failing to report the news in a “factual and unbiased manner.”
The Ontario Regional Council considered the complaint under the news related clause of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters’ (CAB) Code of Ethics. It found no Code violation. While the Council indicated that “There is no doubt about the general validity of the point made by the complainant”, it did not find that the complaint was substantiated in this case.
With respect to that newscast, the only potentially problematic statement made is that of John Badham at the end of the very short news item: “Well said, Dr. John Beamish.” In the view of the Regional Council, that comment might be understood as an indication of the news reader’s view of either the St. Joseph Health Centre, the Palliative Care Family Centre, the contribution of the community of Peterborough, the role of the Festival of Trees, the concluding statement of Dr. Beamish that “the unit is really an expression of the community’s caring for those who are dying within the community” or the doctor’s own articulation of the entire issue. Even if, therefore, the words “Well said” could be viewed as a technical breach of the CAB Code of Ethics, the focus of the benefit is sufficiently uncertain and the news issue so uncontroversial and innocuous that the Regional Council has no difficulty in concluding that no breach of Clause 6 of the Code is disclosed.
Canada’s private broadcasters have created industry standards in the form of Codes on ethics, gender portrayal and television violence by which they expect their members will abide. They also created the CBSC, which is the self-regulatory body with the responsibility of administering those Codes, as well as the Code dealing with journalistic practices created by the Radio Television News Directors Association Canada (RTNDA). 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 (###) ###-####.