Ottawa, October 7, 1993 – The B.C. Regional Council of the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council announced today that a series of “dead” jokes and “Irish” jokes aired on CFOX-FM during the week of March 15 to 19, 1993, did not contain abusive or discriminatory material about Irish people.
It it unanimous decision, the Council noted that a listener had incorrectly identified the jokes as “stupid” Irish jokes and had stated that Irish people were referred to as “Paddies.” According to the Regional Council, Irish people were, in fact, not referred to as “stupid” or “Paddies”. Referring to the Canadian Association of Broadcasters’ Code of Ethics clause regarding “human rights”, the Council decided that CFOX-FM had used no “abusive or discriminatory material or comment” in referring to Irish people.
The Council further remarked on the station’s thoughtful and collaborative response to the complaint. CFOX-FM, althought it did not believe that it had acted in a racist way, invited representatives of the Irish community to present their concerns on air, on the same show on which the jokes were made. This response was, in the Council’s words, “exemplary.”
The B.C. Regional Council includes representatives of the broadcasting industry and the general public. The Regional Council Chair, Alden Diehl, is General Manager of CFOX-FM. He did not participate in the decision and was replaced by Mr. Bill Coombes of CHWK/CKSR-FM (Chilliwack). The Vice-Chair of the Regional Council is Monica Becott, a public representative from Prince George. Taanta Gupta, Robert Mackay and Jackie Drysdale (not present for decision) also represent the public, while Bryan Edwards (of the Okanagan Skeena Group) represents broadcasters.
The CBSC was established by the CAB in 1990 to provide private sector broadcasters with a mechanism of self-regulation. Formally endorsed by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, the CBSC adminsters three codes of broadcast standards: the Code of Ethics, the Sex-Role Portrayal Code, and the Voluntary Code Regarding Violence in Television Programming (under revision).
The decision is attached.
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For more information, please contact the CBSC National Chair, Ron Cohen, at (###) ###-####.