Ottawa, August 20, 1999 – The Canadian Broadcast Standards Council (CBSC) today released three decisions concerning the programs Dream On, Comedy Club 54 and The Tom Green Show, all broadcast on The Comedy Network. In its decision regarding Dream On, the Ontario Regional Council dealt with concerns over the sexual explicitness of some of the scenes included in the half-hour comedy show. The Council found no breach of the Codes. Referring to an earlier decision, it noted that “Dream On is a comedy intended for adult audiences. By broadcasting the show in a 9:30 p.m. time slot, it is clear that the program is not marketed to children.” While the Council recognized that some children may still tune into the show, it noted that “the major steps taken by broadcasters to put systems in place to assist with parental vigilance, such as the broadcast Codes, the watershed, the classification system, on-screen icons, viewer advisories and the coming V-chip technology, set Canada far ahead of most Western countries in this area.”
In its decision concerning Comedy Club 54, the Ontario Regional Council dealt with a complaint concerning discriminatory comment included in a stand-up comedy routine. The Council did not find a violation of the Codes.
As it has noted in past decisions, the Council acknowledges that such ethnically based humour may be discriminatory but ... it is not of the view that it rises to the level of a breach of the Code. In the Council’s view, while the ethnic humour contained in the “Comedy Club 5" episode in question poked fun at specific groups on the basis of their national, provincial or ethnic origin, and in this sense was discriminatory, none of what was said was so hateful, demeaning or degrading as to be considered to be abusively discriminatory, the test under the Human Rights provision of the CAB Code of Ethics.
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While the humour in question was pointed and may even have been tasteless, the Council does not find that any of the “jokes” overstepped the boundaries in this case. In its words earlier cited here, “It poked fun but did not bludgeon. It tickled but was not nasty.”
In its third decision released today, the Council dealt with a complaint concerning an episode of the Tom Green Show which included a segment involving the use of a dead pigeon as a “prop” to humiliate unsuspecting passersby on the street. The Council reiterated its view that “the broadcaster’s programming responsibility under the Codes does not extend to questions of taste” which “should be left to the market place”. The Council stated:
While The Tom Green Show may be unpalatable for some, it may also be meeting the special likes and desires of others. That is a question to be determined, on the one hand, by the broadcaster in its decision to put the show on the air and by the viewer, on the other hand, in deciding to watch or not watch the program.
Canada’s private broadcasters have created industry standards in the form of Codes on ethics, gender portrayal and television violence by which they expect their members will abide. They also created the CBSC, which is the self-regulatory body with the responsibility of administering those Codes, as well as the Code dealing with journalistic practices created by the Radio Television News Directors Association Canada (RTNDA). More than 430 radio and television stations and specialty services from across Canada are members of the Council.
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All CBSC decisions, Codes, links to members’ and other web sites, and related information are available on the World Wide Web at www.cbsc.ca. For more information, please contact the National Chair of the CBSC, Ron Cohen, at (###) ###-####.