OTTAWA – An instance of “mic-bombing” that saw a bystander shout a profanity during a live news report did not violate any broadcasting codes, the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council (CBSC) has ruled.
The CBSC investigated Bell-owned CP24’s afternoon news broadcast on April 20, 2018 that covered, in separate segments, a pro-marijuana rally and the 2018 Ontario election campaign. At 2:00 PM that day, the station provided live on site coverage of a pro-marijuana rally in Toronto. As the reporter was speaking, a man ran into the shot and unexpectedly yelled the f-word. The reporter immediately commented and moved on, and also apologized at the end of the report, however, a viewer complained that the station had allowed the word to go to air.
The CBSC’s English-Language Panel examined the complaint under Clause 10 of the CAB Code of Ethics. It noted that the CBSC has customarily found the f-word and its variations to be unacceptable before 9:00 PM, but considered that in this instance of “mic-bombing”, whereby a bystander suddenly inserted himself into the scene to shout a coarse word, the broadcaster did not violate the code. It was difficult to hear exactly what the man had yelled, it was unexpected and not uttered by someone involved with the broadcast or even an interviewee, and the reporter apologized for it.
At 2:13 PM, CP24 broadcast a panel discussion about the upcoming Ontario election which included representatives from each major party. At one point, the Liberal representative suggested that the electorate felt that PC leader Doug Ford was “a bit of a dick”, prompting another complaint from the same viewer. The CBSC Panel concluded that the word “dick” is not in and of itself a word that must be relegated to post-9:00 PM. The majority of the Panel also concluded that its specific usage here did not amount to a code breach, particularly since the host immediately apologized for the language.
