OTTAWA — The insertion of an editorial opinion during a CFRB Toronto news report about streaming services, without the comment being identified as opinion or kept distinct from the regular newscast, breached the Canadian Association of Broadcasters’ (CAB) Code of Ethics and the Radio Television Digital News Association of Canada’s (RTDNA) Code of Journalistic Ethics, the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council (CBSC) announced today.
The CFRB news report on December 17, 2019 was about the federal government exploring the possibility of imposing a tax on OTT streaming services such as Netflix and Disney+. The newsreader, David McKee, introduced the news item with the statement, “The libraries of streaming services like Netflix, Disney+ could soon have more of a Canadian flavour that nobody watches or wants if the federal government gets its way.”
The CBSC received a message on December 18 from a listener who complained that the “nobody watches or wants” comment was McKee’s opinion and should not have been inserted into the newscast. The listener wrote that McKee frequently editorializes during the news and should restrict his viewpoints to his separate commentary segment.
CFRB replied to the complainant, arguing the news talk station’s News and Views segment at 6 p.m. is labelled as an editorial segment. After the complainant responded to point out he had clearly identified the 5 p.m. newscast in his complaint, CFRB sent a second reply in which it maintained it was obvious to the audience that McKee was expressing an opinion.
The CBSC examined the complaint under Clause 5 (News) of the CAB Code of Ethics and Article 2.0 (Fairness) of the RTDNA Code of Journalistic Ethics, both of which require that news broadcasts are not editorial or biased, and any editorializing is kept distinct from regular news coverage. The CBSC concluded the newsreader had inserted his own bias when he said “nobody watches or wants” Canadian content, although one adjudicator abstained from voting on this point. The CBSC panel adjudicators also concluded the commentary had not been clearly labelled or kept distinct from the news, so listeners would not necessarily have known it was an opinion. The panel pointed out McKee has a platform to express his opinion during the News and Views segment of the 6:00 p.m. show.
CFRB is now required to announce the decision once during peak listening hours within three days following the release of this decision and once more within seven days following the release of this decision during the time period in which this newscast was broadcast, but not on the same day as the first mandated announcement; within the 14 days following the broadcasts of the announcements, to provide written confirmation of the airing of the statement to the complainant who filed the Ruling Request; and to provide the CBSC with a copy of that written confirmation and with air check copies of the broadcasts of the two announcements which must be made by CFRB.
