OTTAWA – A call-in contest program that airs on French-language channel V has been nailed for a third time by Canadian Broadcast Standards Council (CBSC) for violating the contest provision of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters’ (CAB) Code of Ethics.
In a decision released Wednesday, the CBSC said that its investigation into L’instant gagnant concluded that some of the show’s puzzles lacked transparency and were misleading. This is a third violation of Clause 12 of the CAB’s Code of Ethics for L’instant gagnant, after similar decisions issued in December 2012 and April 2013.
Produced and paid for by TeleMedia InteracTV, L’instant gagnant is a contest program in which the host invites viewers to telephone the program to solve various games and puzzles in order to win a cash prize. The CBSC said it received complaints about episodes of the program that aired on February 15, May 2, and May 8, 2014, over an apparent lack of transparency of the featured games, the solutions of some of the puzzles, the reliability of the telephone system, and, more generally, the alleged fraudulent nature of the program.
The CBSC’s Quebec Regional Panel examined the complaints under the CAB Code of Ethics. It reiterated that it can only rule on matters that are broadcast on air because it does not have jurisdiction on off-air matters such as the telephone call assignment system. The Panel did, however, find the broadcaster in violation of Clause 12 of the CAB Code of Ethics for the challenged games. Although the answers were displayed on screen, it was clear that the games lacked transparency and were misleading. The explanations offered by the broadcaster "only served to confirm these observations".
In light of this third violation, V, as the broadcaster, is required to provide “a concrete indication” of the measures which it intends to put in place to avoid further similar violations of the codes in order to remain a member of the CBSC.
Created in 1990 by Canada’s private broadcasters, the CBSC currently administers seven codes which deal with ethics, equitable portrayal, violence, news and journalistic independence. Nearly 800 radio stations, satellite radio services, television stations and specialty and pay television services across Canada are members of the Council.
