OTTAWA – A public affairs discussion that failed to distinguish between “free” and “subsidized” housing violated broadcasting codes, the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council (CBSC) said Thursday.
The CBSC reviewed a segment of The Source, a public affairs discussion program broadcast on Sun News Network. In the episode that aired on July 4, 2011, host Ezra Levant and his guest Sun Media journalist-blogger Kathryn Marshall spoke about public funding for the arts. Both Levant and Marshall objected to taxpayer money going to arts programs, and they specifically talked about a program in Edmonton that provides live/work space for artists called Arts Habitat.
Levant repeatedly referred to the program as “free” housing for artists, while Marshall used the word “subsidized” most of the time, but did use the word “free” on one occasion. Arts Habitat is in fact housing subsidized by the municipal and provincial governments of Edmonton and Alberta.
The CBSC received complaints from viewers who pointed out that artists are required to pay rent to live in Arts Habitat housing, and that Sun News should not have been allowed to broadcast inaccurate information. Sun News stated that, on an episode of The Source broadcast two days later, Levant had read an e-mail from a viewer which made this distinction and he acknowledged his error.
The CBSC’s National Specialty Services Panel concluded that Sun News Network was entitled to broadcast criticisms of public funding for arts programs, but that those criticisms must be based on accurate information. Sun News violated Clause 6 of the CAB Code of Ethics for referring to Arts Habitat as “free” housing when it is in fact subsidized housing, but it respected Article 7 of the Radio Television Digital News Association’s Code of Ethics by correcting the error.
