OTTAWA – The description of an unusual sexual assault that aired on a morning radio show was ruled acceptable by the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council (CBSC) because it was not actually sexually explicit.
The story was broadcast at 7:25 AM during The Big Breakfast Show on CFWF-FM (The Wolf, Regina) on January 14, 2010. The commentator prefaced his remarks with “it’s really horrifying so I’ll pass it along” and proceeded to explain that the case, which had occurred in Germany, had involved one man playing with his male friend’s “junk” while intoxicated. Quoting court officials, The Wolf host read that the man “twisted [the other]’s scrotum […] until it broke. Then he took the testicles and hurled them from the window.” The host added that “the cops found his nuts lying in a snowbank” and then laughed and said “that’s hilarious".
A listener complained that the account of the assault was “obscene” and “sexually explicit”, and so should not have been broadcast, and, that the content was contrary to broadcasting regulations regarding sexually explicit material. While the broadcaster acknowledged that the story was “disturbing”, it noted that it was a real news story and that the announcer had just used “everyday terms” to tell it.
The CBSC’s Prairie Regional Panel examined the complaint under Clause 9(b) of the CAB Code of Ethics, which prohibits the broadcast of “unduly sexually explicit material” on radio. The Panel found no code breach, pointing out that it was a description of a “sexual assault” and not an explicit description of a sexual act. The Panel also said that it did not consider that “the use of either the colloquial or the anatomical terms is either obscene or profane. If anything, the Panel believes that there was an attempt by the broadcaster to avoid being crude with his choice of words.”
The Panel did, however, comment that it was in poor taste to broadcast the “gruesome, sexually-tinged” story at a time when families, including children, were getting ready for work and school and that the broadcast would have benefited from a verbal warning to listeners, but it found no code breach on either of those accounts.
