OTTAWA – Saying it achieved "major strides" in advancing diversity in Canadian broadcasting in 2007-07, the Canadian Association of Broadcasters has filed its second annual report to the CRTC on the issue.
The CAB’s report describes initiatives taken on matters of cultural diversity, as well as those concerning the presence, portrayal and participation of persons with disabilities in broadcasting, says the press release.
“The CAB is very proud of the strides taken by private broadcasters in the area of diversity,” said CAB president and CEO, Glenn O’Farrell. “In addition to building on our previous work in this area, our diversity initiatives this year focused on increasing awareness of the barriers faced by persons with disabilities, and we have helped to identify and develop tools that can break these barriers down.”
Over the past year, the CAB has successfully launched three core initiatives that emerged from the CAB study on The Presence, Portrayal and Participation of Persons with Disabilities in Television Programming. These initiatives included a PSA campaign entitled Open Your Mind, as well as two information booklets on Employment Opportunities in the Canadian Broadcasting and Affiliated Production Sector, and Recommended Guidelines on Language and Terminology – Persons with Disabilities: A Manual for News Professionals, produced in partnership with the Radio Television News Directors Association of Canada (RTNDA).
"The 2006 CAB Convention held in Vancouver celebrated the promise and the achievements of diversity, thematically through panel discussions, artistically through music showcasing, as well as through a number of prestigious Gold Ribbon Awards honouring the best of diversity programming created by private radio and television stations," says the press release.
The CAB’s Diversity in Broadcasting web site also continued to grow as a key accessible resource, a point of collection and dissemination for a wide range of diversity-related information, studies, reports and links.
The initiatives outlined in the CAB 2006-07 Report on Diversity in Broadcasting complement the initiatives undertaken at the individual station level, and build on the significant work undertaken by Canada’s private broadcasters as outlined in their individual annual reporting to the CRTC.
