OTTAWA – CRTC Chair Konrad von Finckenstein has rejected the primary thrust of a private member’s bill to reduce violence on television, saying there is no need for the CRTC to have new powers to regulate the broadcasting of violent acts.
Appearing before the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage Tuesday, von Finckenstein said the existing system, which relies on industry self-regulation backed up by the CRTC as the final arbiter, “does provide an effective means to achieve the desired purpose”.
“We therefore cannot support the provisions of Bill C-327 that call for prescriptive regulation in lieu of industry self-regulation backstopped by conditions of licence,” he said in notes for his presentation made available to cartt.ca.
The Committee’s hearings this week mark the latest stage in an eight-year effort by Montreal Bloc Québécois MP Bernard Bigras to amend the Broadcasting Act to give the CRTC some teeth to control TV scenes of violence, especially those seen by children in daytime and early evening.
Bigras has been on a campaign ever since young Virginie Larivière, then 13 years old, delivered a petition of more than one million names about controlling violence on TV to Prime Minister Brian Mulroney in 1992, following the murder of her sister. His first bill in 2000 never made it to a vote; this latest bill was introduced in 2006.
Von Finckenstein said the broad goals of the bill are “laudable”. But he said the existing system of self-regulation and adherence of broadcasters to the Violence Code of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters is working. He also pointed out that the CRTC requires all broadcasters to adhere to the Code as a condition of licence.
Bigras’ bill would require the CRTC to enact regulations concerning violent acts, monitoring of compliance, and punishment. Bigras would like to see a fine of $250,000 for a first offence and $500,000 for a second offence.
On the question of financial penalties, von Finckenstein agreed.
Right now, the CRTC can require a station to broadcast an apology or, at the other extreme, shorten the offender’s licence term or deny renewal entirely.
“Our powers of enforcement would be both stronger and sharper” if the CRTC had the power to impose fines that “would be large enough to hurt and to serve as a deterrent”, he said. He noted the CRTC already possesses such a tool under the Telecommunications Act, but not the Broadcasting Act.
“It would be a powerful additional tool for ensuring that broadcasters fulfill their responsibility to protect the children of Canada,” he said.
