OTTAWA – The first annual report to the CRTC by the CAB on the progress made by broadcasters to ensure diversity in broadcasting was announced today.
The Canadian Association of Broadcasters’ report, filed April 28th, describes initiatives taken on matters of cultural diversity, as well as those concerning the presence, portrayal and participation of persons with disabilities in broadcasting.
“Over the past year, the CAB has made significant progress in developing and launching a wide range of initiatives and activities to help foster diversity in broadcasting,” said CAB president and CEO, Glenn O’Farrell. “Canada’s private broadcasters are committed to working with industry partners to ensure the equitable portrayal and reflection of Canada’s diverse population on television.”
The CAB undertook a number of diversity initiatives through 2005-06, including the launching of the Diversity in Broadcasting web site, which has evolved into "a central repository for a broad range industry-wide information, including studies, reports, links, and events that help promote the need for diversity in the broadcasting industry," says the press release.
The CAB has also been talking with organizations and individuals from ethnocultural, Aboriginal and disability communities, broadcasting and production industries, media, government decision-makers in an ongoing dialogue about this issue, and has succeeded in moving diversity forward by emphasizing the inherent business and social value of increasing diversity within the industries, says the association.
The integration of diversity discussion as part of the CAB Convention, and the establishment of a Gold Ribbon Award for Excellence in Aboriginal Programming – with more Gold Ribbon Awards for diversity programming to come, are also evidence of progress among private broadcasters, says the CAB.
Initiatives outlined in the CAB Report on Diversity in Broadcasting are intended to complement the initiatives undertaken at the individual station level, and to build on the significant work undertaken by Canada’s private broadcasters as outlined in their individual annual reporting to the CRTC.
