OTTAWA – A controversial imam who allegedly published anti-Semitic statements in other forums, doesn’t disqualify him from appearing on VisionTV – or any other television channel, the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council (CBSC) said today.
It released its decision concerning VisionTV’s broadcasts of Dil Dil Pakistan in July 2007. Complaints focused principally on the on-air presence of Israr Ahmad, an imam who had, according to complainants, allegedly published anti-Semitic statements on previous occasions. On the challenged show, in the format of a religious “lesson” or sermon, Ahmad had discussed Sura 2 of the Qur’an and dealt briefly with jihad.
In its replies to complainants, VisionTV pointed out: “It is important for us to emphasize that the hateful comments attributed to Israr Ahmad were not broadcast on VisionTV. […] Many readers of the National Post were under the impression that hateful comments targeting Jewish people and comments questioning the Holocaust were broadcast on VisionTV. That is not the case,” reads the CBSC decision.
“Even if Israr Ahmad was not offensive in the identified broadcast (and he was), having him appear at all is tantamount to complicity on VisionTV’s part. […] My point is that Israr Ahmad should not have been presented in the first place,” said the complainant.
The Specialty Services Panel found no Code breach. Even if Israr Ahmad “had made hateful comments about identifiable groups in other fora” (a matter on which the CBSC expressed no opinion), the Panel concluded that no broadcaster has an obligation to forbid access to its airwaves on that account. While any broadcaster may choose to avoid the provision of a platform to persons who are likely to make abusive or unduly discriminatory comments, that station or service is only required to ensure that such comments are not in fact aired,” says the release.
“Even a notorious figure […] could be an acceptable invitee to discuss appropriate subject matter in controlled circumstances. Indeed, the CBSC Panels have always supported the fundamental notion that broadcasters have the right to determine which programming they will run, which news they will report, which guests they will invite, as a function of their programming perspectives and their perception of their audiences’ tastes. Their one constraint is that, in the exercise of those choices, they may not breach the CBSC-administered codified standards,” notes the release.
