OTTAWA – Even if a caller really makes you mad, DJs can’t give out the person’s name and phone number as retribution, the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council confirmed Wednesday.
A decision concerning the broadcast of two episodes of the morning show “Le p’tit monde à Frenchie” on CJMS-AM, outlined an exchange in which a caller (who called himself Johnny – not his real name, as listeners later learned) had some disagreement with the hosts.
“After the call was suddenly disconnected, ‘Frenchie’, apparently miffed, gave the caller’s number out on the air. Four days later, another listener called up and provided Johnny’s real name. The complainant, whose identity and phone number had been revealed, was troubled that the station had not employed the necessary means to avoid the occurrence,” says the CBSC decision.
In its letters with the complainant, “the station had placed some of the responsibility on the shoulders of the caller, who asked in a subsequent e-mail if providing one’s own opinion and disagreeing with the hosts is the equivalent of a provocation. On that issue, the Quebec Regional Panel agreed with the complainant,” adds the release.
“The hosts, after all, control the microphone and have the power to cut off callers who may become abusive and inappropriate; they do have an obligation to ensure responsibility on their part and that of callers. Even if the caller had been particularly unpleasant during his call, and the Panel finds that that was not the case, that would not have given rise to the tit-for-tat actions,” says the release.
“There was no justification whatsoever for co-hosts Jarraud and Daigneault to permit the telephone number of the complainant to be revealed on the airwaves,” added the Quebec Panel. “The publicly-licensed airwaves are not available for privately-vindictive comments,” and is contrary to the broadcasters code of ethics.
