Ottawa, April 26, 1994 — Today, the Ontario Regional Council of the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council (CBSC) issued its decision concerning a CFTO-TV report on a Toronto murder.
The decision concerns the station’s airing of scenes of grief expressed by the murdered woman’s family. A CFTO-TV viewer felt that the station had invaded the family’s privacy and insensitively portrayed the family’s emotional reaction to the tragedy. The station responded by pointing out that the scenes in question had been filmed on the street, in view of the public, and that therefore the reporter had not invaded the family’s privacy; moreover, the scenes of grief were (in the station’s view) not excessive, given the length of the entire report.
The Council looked to the Code of Ethics of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB). The Code states that broadcasters should present news fully, fairly and properly. After viewing a tape of the news report, the Council members agreed that the reporter had not been intrusive and had not sensationalized the story. They noted that the portrayal of grief in the report was neither prolonged nor gratuitous. Therefore, the Council decided that CFTO-TV had not breached the Code.
Composed equally of representatives of the public and of the broadcasting industry, the CBSC Ontario Regional Council is chaired by Marianne Barrie, a public member. Al MacKay, a broadcaster, is the Vice-Chair. The other public members of the Regional Council are Susan Fish and Robert Stanbury, while the other broadcaster members are Paul Fockler and Don Luzzi (who was not present for the decision).
The CBSC was created in 1990 to provide self-regulation for private sector broadcasters, by administering industry Codes. The Council received the endorsement of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) in 1991. In addition to the Code of Ethics, the Council administers the CAB’s Sex-Role Portrayal Code and the Voluntary Code Regarding Violence in Television Programming (recently revised). Since November, 1993, the Council has also administered the Code of Ethics of the Radio Television News Directors Association.
The decision is attached.
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For more information, please contact the National Chair of the CBSC, Ronald I. Cohen, at (###) ###-####.