OTTAWA — The Canadian Broadcast Standards Council (CBSC) today released two decisions relating to separate news broadcasts by CTV Vancouver and CP24 in March 2021 that the CBSC says breached the Canadian Association of Broadcasters’ (CAB) Violence Code and Code of Ethics, respectively.
The CP24 news broadcast also breached the Radio Television Digital News Association of Canada’s (RTDNA) Code of Journalistic Ethics, according to the CBSC.
In the decision against CTV Vancouver, the CBSC says it received a complaint regarding a news report about a stabbing incident in North Vancouver that the broadcaster aired during its CTV News at Six program on March 27, 2021.
“The CTV Vancouver broadcast provided information about an incident that had occurred earlier that day where a man had allegedly stabbed multiple people at a pedestrian mall in North Vancouver,” reads a CBSC press release.
“The report included scenes of paramedics attending to injured people and cell phone footage of the suspect stabbing himself in an intersection before being arrested by police. A viewer felt that it was inappropriate to show footage of the victims.”
In its defence, CTV pointed out all of the victims shown in the news report were adults who had survived the incident and it had demonstrated sensitivity by blurring out victims’ faces.
“A majority of the CBSC Panel concluded, with one member abstaining, that it was acceptable to show these images and unanimously concluded that the station should have provided an express warning in advance of the disturbing images in accordance with Article 6.3 of the CAB Violence Code,” the press release says.
In its decision against CP24 in Toronto, the CBSC says it received a viewer complaint about the inaccuracy of a March 31 headline that repeatedly appeared on the 24-hour news channel’s headline ticker stating Covid-19 restrictions were going to be loosened in Ontario when in fact they were going to be tightened.
In addition to the inaccurate headline, CP24’s ticker also displayed a correct headline saying tougher restrictions were expected, and the CP24 news reports aired during this time told viewers Ontario Premier Doug Ford had hinted stricter restrictions were coming soon.
“CP24 acknowledged the error, but pointed out that the other content aired at the same time provided the correct information,” the CBSC press release says.
“Despite that fact, the CBSC Panel concluded that the inaccuracy breached the News clause of the CAB Code of Ethics and the Accuracy clause of the RTDNA Code of Journalistic Ethics because the wrong headline was broadcast repeatedly and, given CP24’s format, the written information is just as important as the oral, so CP24 should be ensuring that its tickers and banners are accurate.”
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