Ottawa, April 18, 1994 – In its decision released today, the Ontario Regional Council of the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council (CBSC) announced that a news item reporting the results of a poll concerning abortion was fair and accurate. A listener of CHUR (North Bay) had complained about the station’s August 2, 1993 reporting of the poll results.
The news report, which CHUR had read from the Standard Broadcast News wire service, cited the results of a Gallup poll concerning Canadians’ attitudes toward the legalization of abortion. The on-air report stated that about one-third of Canadian supported the total legalization of abortion, that 56 per cent of Canadians believed that abortion should be legal in certain circumstances, and that ten per cent of Canadians believed that abortion should be outlawed in all circumstances. A listener felt that the news report was misleading and that it had led people to believe that two-thirds of Canadians believed in funding abortion.
The Council noted that the news item had not referred to the question of the funding of abortion. After listening to a tape of the report, the Council decided that, in fact, the station had not highlighted only a minority opinion which favoured the legalization of abortion, but that it had also highlighted the fact that some Canadians were against the legalization of abortion. Therefore, the Council decided that CHUR had not breached the Canadian Association of Broadcasters Code of Ethics, which states that news reports should be accurate, unbiased, and fair.
The CBSC’s Ontario Regional Council includes three representatives of the general public and three representatives of the broadcasting industry. Marianne Barrie, a public representative, chairs the Regional Council, while Al MacKay, a broadcaster, is the Vice-Chair. Susan Fish and Robert Stanbury are the Regional Council’s other public representatives. The other broadcaster representatives are Paul Fockler and Don Luzzi (Mr. Luzzi did not participate in the decision).
The decision is attached.
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For more information, please contact the CBSC National Chair, Ronald I. Cohen, at (###) ###-####.