OTTAWA – A radio host’s comments called a contest’s random selection process in to question, and a violent movie should have been delayed until after 9:00 PM, the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council (CBSC) has ruled in two separate decisions.
The CBSC investigated a complaint made by a listener of Rogers-owned CISS-FM (KiSS FM, Ottawa) in March 2016. The complaint concerned a contest segment called “Big Bag of Cash” where listeners had to listen for a cue-to-text and then send a text message to the station for a chance to play a game on air to win money.
Each contestant was to be chosen randomly from among all eligible text messages received. On March 21, just before starting the game, the host told one contestant that she had chosen her text message because she liked the emoticons in it. The complainant said that choosing a text message in this manner contravened the station’s own rules regarding random selection. The station replied that it had investigated the matter and found that the contestant had in fact been randomly selected; the host had only said she picked the emoticon message to provide an entertaining intro to the segment and create a rapport with the contestant.
The CBSC examined the complaint under the Contest provision (Clause 12) of the CAB Code of Ethics, which requires that contests be conducted fairly and legitimately and are not misleading. The CBSC concluded that the host’s comments clearly left the impression that the contest rules had not been followed and therefore the broadcast violated the code.
In its second decision, the CBSC examined the television broadcast of the feature film Eastern Promises on Game TV.
Eastern Promises is a 2007 dramatic film by David Cronenberg about the Russian mafia that deals with human trafficking, rape and prostitution of young women and other nefarious mafia activities. It contains multiple scenes of graphic violence, an explicit sex scene in a brothel, and numerous instances of the f-word.
Game TV broadcast the film at 8:00 PM Eastern Time on June 9, 2016 with viewer advisories alerting to the violence, coarse language and mature themes, but no classification icon. The CBSC received a complaint from a viewer who lived in the Pacific time zone and therefore saw the broadcast at 5:00 PM. Game TV acknowledged that its viewer advisories should also have mentioned “nudity” and indicated that it would re-edit the film for future broadcast.
The CBSC examined the complaint under provisions relating to scheduling, advisories and classification of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters’ Violence Code and Code of Ethics. The CBSC determined that the film clearly contained scenes of violence, sexuality, coarse language and mature themes intended exclusively for adult audiences and therefore should only have been broadcast after 9:00 PM. It noted that the time applies only to the time zone in which the signal originates, but reminded broadcasters to be aware that their programming appears earlier in other time zones.
The CBSC also concluded that the advisory should have mentioned both “nudity” and “sexuality” and that the broadcast should have featured an 18+ classification icon. The CBSC found Game TV in breach of both codes.
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. Approximately 800 radio stations, satellite radio services, television stations and specialty and pay television services across Canada participate in the Council.
