OTTAWA – Charles Adler’s labeling his callers as "stupid" is "on the edge of acceptability, but did not, in the end, violate the Canadian Association of Broadcasters’ (CAB) Code of Ethics," the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council said today.
Listeners had complained about the October 18th broadcast in which the Corus Radio personality aggressively addressed the B.C. teachers’ strike that was occurring at the time and the refusal of the teachers to return to work even after they had been ordered to do so by government back-to-work legislation. Adler strongly expressed his opinion that the teachers’ action was illegal and morally reprehensible.
He accepted telephone calls from listeners who were more accepting of the teachers’ position or were teachers themselves; however, Adler raised his voice with some of those callers, interrupting them. He also called two of them “stupid” and told another to “get a life”.
A listener complained to the CBSC that Adler had “verbally abused” these callers just because they had expressed an opinion different from his. CKNW, the station carrying Adler’s show, acknowledged that Adler “did get quite animated and had some aggressive exchanges with some of the callers to the program,” but pointed out that the purpose of the program is to debate controversial issues."
While the CBSC agreed Adler didn’t breach the rules, it added: "The (BC regional panel) is, however, at a loss to understand why he descended to the level of personal insult, using words like “stupid” to characterize [two of the callers]. Adler could have characterized ideas as stupid but people? No need. Not right," says the CBSC decision.
In another decision released today, the CBSC said Fairchild Radio was not in breach of regulations by saying on-air it would no longer accept calls from an individual it felt was overly critical of a Vietnamese publication.
Lac Viet Radio, which is broadcast on Saturday mornings, contains information and discussions of interest to the Canadian-Vietnamese community. An individual had written to the station complaining that the station did not play the Vietnamese national anthem during its broadcasts or display the Vietnamese flag at its functions. The station explained that it wanted to remain neutral with respect to controversial political issues in the Vietnamese community. That same individual then wrote open letters criticizing the station that were published in a local magazine and he also apparently raised the issue at community meetings. Following those actions, Lac Viet Radio broadcast statements on several occasions explaining that it would not be accepting telephone calls from the individual because he had publicly denounced the program.
The CBSC said Fairchild was within its rights.
