Ottawa, April 26, 1994 – The Canadian Broadcast Standards Council (CBSC) today released the decision of its Ontario Regional Council, concerning a program entitled “Voice of Croatia”, on CJMR (Oakville).
The decision concerns a complaint from a CJMR listener, whose telephone message had been left on an answering machine not declared to be for on-air reply. The message was aired without the listener’s permission or knowledge, which the Council considered a breach of the Code of Ethics of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters. In the Council’s view, the airing of the listener’s recorded message constituted an improper presentation of comment, contrary to Clause 6(3) of its Code.
The Council also noted the steps the President of the station had taken to correct the situation. The President had asked the producer of “Voice of Croatia” to air an apology on the same program the week after the incident. According to the Regional Council, this action was an effective and reasonable response to the listener’s concerns. Therefore, while stations are generally required to announce unfavourable decisions, in this case the Regional Council felt that the station’s own announcement was the equivalent of what the Regional Council would have required.
The Ontario Regional Council includes representatives of the broadcasting industry and the general public. Marianne Barrie, its Chair, represents the public; the Vice-Chair, Al MacKay, represents broadcasters. Other public members are Susan Fish and Robert Stanbury. The other broadcasters on the Council are Paul Fockler and Don Luzzi (Mr. Luzzi was not present for the decision).
Created in 1990 as the organization of self-regulation for Canada’s private sector broadcasters, the CBSC administers three Codes developed by the CAB: the Code of Ethics, the Sex-Role Portrayal Code, and the Voluntary Code Regarding Violence in Television Programming. The Council also administers the Code of Ethics of the Radio Television News Directors Association.
The decision is attached.
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For more information, please contact Ronald I. Cohen, CBSC National Chair, at (###) ###-####.