Ottawa, January 30, 2018 – The Canadian Broadcast Standards Council (CBSC) today released its decision concerning broadcasts of the open-line show Doc Mailloux et Josey on Cogeco stations CJMF-FM (FM 93, Quebec City) and CKOB-FM (106,9fm, Mauricie). The CBSC concluded that comments about men and women did not violate any broadcast codes, but that the stations should not have allowed sexually explicit dialogue or coarse language to be aired during the day.
Doc Mailloux et Josey is a talk show hosted by psychiatrist Pierre Mailloux and Josey Arsenault. They and their callers discuss social issues and interpersonal relationships. On the challenged broadcasts, they discussed a study that had surveyed young men about sexual assault, a controversial speech by a female artist at the ADISQ gala, and women’s sexual satisfaction. One listener complained that Mailloux had made sexist comments about women in the former two episodes, while another listener complained about sexually explicit descriptions in the latter.
The CBSC’s French-Language Panel examined the complaints under provisions of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters’ (CAB) Equitable Portrayal Code, Code of Ethics, and Violence Code. The Panel concluded that Mailloux had not justified rape or made any abusively discriminatory comments about women or men; under the codes, his comments constituted legitimate expression on political or social issues and were limited to sub-sets of those groups who hold certain views or exhibit certain behaviour. The Panel did, however, find that the programs had contained sexually explicit commentary and coarse language that should not have been aired during daytime radio hours contrary to Clause 9 of the CAB Code of Ethics.
The CBSC was created in 1990 by Canada’s private broadcasters to administer the codes of standards that they established for their industry. The CBSC currently administers 5 codes which deal with ethics, equitable portrayal, violence, news and journalistic independence. Around 800 radio stations, satellite radio services, conventional and discretionary television services across Canada participate in the Council.
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All CBSC decisions, codes, and related information are available on the CBSC’s website at . For more information, please contact the CBSC Chair, Sylvie Courtemanche, at scourtemanche@cbsc.ca or by telephone at 613-233-4607.