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OUR CAREFREE BROADCASTERS
The private broadcasters in Canada, both TV
and radio - all 498 of them - are a carefree lot. Not for
them stringent regulations on what they say on the air. The
only requirement is that they just must at all times remain
politically correct. This is no hardship for them. Apart from
this, they are free to ridicule and undermine anyone they
like during their broadcasts. The private broadcaster's favourite
target? The Christian faith.
This freedom to ridicule by private broadcasters
developed because of the decision in 1991 by the federally
appointed Canadian Radio and Television Commission (CRTC)
to allow private broadcasters to be responsible for monitoring
themselves. What a break-through! The private broadcasters
set up their own farcical monitoring committee to which they
gave the pompous name, The Canadian Broadcast Standards Council
(CBSC). It is headed by the equally pompous and officious
chairman, Ronald Cohen, who holds sway over this Council which
enforces a peculiar interpretation of "fairness,"
that is merely political correctness on all matters.
For example, the interpretation by the CBSC
of the Broadcasters' Code of Ethics requires that homosexuality
be portrayed on Canadian broadcasts in only the most positive
light - no rain must fall on the homosexuals' parade, so to
speak - in the private broadcasters' kingdom. In 1998, Dr.
James Dobson of Focus on the Family dared to suggest
in a broadcast, heard by a homosexual residing in Red Deer,
Alta., that homosexuals use false statistics and research
to validate their viewpoint. This statement is a verified
fact, backed up by innumerable studies. It is also
a fact that is verified even by homosexuals themselves, such
as Gareth Kirkby, Managing Editor of the homosexual newspaper,
Xtra West. (See Reality, Nov./Dec., 1998, "Editor
Admits Lies about Homosexuality.")
Facts, however, never interfere with the
make-believe world of Mr. Cohen and his Council. On the basis
of this single complaint by an annoyed homosexual in Red Deer,
Mr. Cohen huffed and puffed to pronounce that Dr. Dobson was
guilty of "hate mongering" in that he attributed
to the gay movement "a malevolent, insidious and conspirational
purpose" which the Council concluded was "abusively
discriminating" and contrary to the Canadian Broadcasters'
Code of Ethics. A conclusion so ridiculous, that it borders
on the imbecilic.
Again, in the year 2000, some homosexual
activists took offence when broadcaster, Dr. Laura Schlessinger,
made the statement backed up by credible studies, that
there is a link between paedophilia and homosexuality. Mr.
Cohen again came charging forward to protect the politically
correct standards of the private broadcasters on homosexuality,
to pronounce that "… the effective assertion by
Dr. Schlessinger that paedophilia has to do with being gay
is, in the view of the Council, an abusively discriminatory
comment based on sexual orientation in violation of the Canadian
Association of Broadcasters' Code of Ethics."
This relevant provision of the Broadcasters'
Code of Ethics so frequently cited by Mr. Cohen is its human
rights provision, which reads as follows:
Recognizing that every person has a right
to full and equal recognition and to enjoy certain fundamental
rights and freedoms, broadcasters shall endeavour to ensure,
to the best of their ability, that their programming contains
no abusive or discriminatory material or comment which is
based on matters of race, national or ethnic origin, colour,
religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, marital status or
physical or mental handicap.
The inclusion of "religion" in this human rights
provision of the Code, however, appears to have been written
in invisible ink. Whenever Mr. Cohen and his Council receive
a complaint based on religious discrimination, they conclude
that no "human rights" violation has taken place.
That is, despite a series of complaints made
to the Council over the years (Reality, Sept./Oct.,
1998, "Freedom of Expression Curtailed by Homosexuals,"
p.7), Mr. Cohen and his cronies on the Council have dismissed
them out of hand because, they state, it is necessary to preserve
"freedom of speech" on the airways.
The most recent example of this was the egregious
decision of the Council handed down on February 14, 2003,
in regard to a complaint arising from the CTV program Open
Mike with Mike Bullard which was aired last April. During
that program, Mr. Bullard ridiculed Catholic priests implying
they are particularly prone to paedophilia. (Less than 1%
of Catholic priests have been involved in homosexual acts
with adolescents, i.e. this interest is homosexuality not
paedophilia - a significant fact that homosexuals do not like
to acknowledge.) In fact, only 0.7% of the 46,000 Catholic
priests in the US have been found guilty of such criminal
behaviour. Yet this has been blown all out of proportion by
the media, along with some others who wish to destroy the
credibility of the Catholic Church so as to remove its voice
from the public arena. Such enemies have exploited with unbridled
enthusiasm this current difficulty of the Catholic Church
in the US in regard to this small number of wayward priests.
The media have chosen to completely ignore the dedication,
devotion and services to humanity exhibited by over 99% of
Catholic priests in the US. In short, in attacking the Christian
faith by way of the Catholic Church, the media, both in the
US and Canada, exhibit no limits to their low standards. Any
method, statement or action that will undermine the Christian
faith of all denominations, is the rule of the day - certainly,
this is the standard applied by Mr. Cohen and his Council
on Broadcast Standards.
Because of this obvious problem with the
CBSC, the Catholic Civil Rights League laid a complaint against
the Mike Bullard Show with the CRTC, which, unfortunately,
refused to deal with it. Instead, the CRTC quickly passed
the case over to Mr. Cohen and his Council. The Catholic Civil
Rights League argued that the Catholic Church was entitled
to the same immunity granted to the homosexual community in
the Dr. Laura Schlessinger complaint, i.e. that the Bullard
program was abusively discriminatory in regard to the Catholic
Church. But no, according to the Council, there were no "abusively
discriminatory" comments in this case, and it ruled instead
that Mr. Bullard was merely engaging in "satire"
drawn from the headlines of the day!
The Intolerable Control of Broadcasting
by the CBSC
It is unconscionable and intolerable that,
in a clear conflict of interest, private broadcasters in Canada
have been granted the right to set their own standards of
freedom of speech in their own broadcasting. It is equally
intolerable that Canadians are being subjected to the prejudicial
decisions of the odious tyrants at the CBSC.
There is no appeal of the CBSC's decisions.
This non-government Council is totally unaccountable and is
using its privileged position to mould public opinion according
to its own narrow and discriminatory perspective. The CRTC
should never have downloaded its responsibilities onto these
self-serving offensive Council officials. Such arbitrariness
must be stopped.
Please write to:
CRTC
1 Promenade du Portage
Central Building
Hull, Quebec K1A 0N2
Mr. Clifford Lincoln, MP
Chairman
House of Commons Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage (which
is currently examining broadcasting in Canada)
House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario KIA 0A6
Your MP
House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario KIA 0A6
Please request that the self-serving CBSC
be abolished, and that the CRTC resume its responsibility
to receive and adjudicate complaints from the public regarding
private broadcasting.
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