OTTAWA – The Canadian Broadcast Standards Council has found that a news report on CTV News Channel breached two industry organizations’ codes of ethics and has ordered the channel to issue a correction on air because that is where the error occured.
Today’s decision from the CBSC centred around two news reports broadcast on CTV News Channel on February 25, 2013 entitled “Clashes Erupt in West Bank”. Both segments reported that tensions had risen following the death of a Palestinian man in an Israeli jail who had been participating in a hunger strike when he died.
On March 5, the CBSC received a complaint from an organization called Honest Reporting Canada which noted that the prisoner had not, in fact, been on a hunger strike and that the official autopsy report was inconclusive regarding the cause of death. Honest Reporting Canada said it had already contacted CTV News Channel on February 25 and 27 requesting that that CTV make “an immediate on-air correction” of this error.
CTV News Channel acknowledged the error and corrected the story on its website. It also said that it did not broadcast any further reports on the subject.
While the CBSC’s National Specialty Services panel commended CTV News for quickly correcting the error on its website, it also said that wasn't enough to rectify the problem. The panel found CTV News breached Clause 5 of the CAB Code of Ethics and Article 1 of the RTNDA Code of Ethics, both of which require accuracy in news reports.
CTV News should also have provided that correction on television as required by Article 7 of the RTNDA Code, the panel said.
As part of the CSBC decision, CTV News must announce the decision on air at least twice as specified by the council. It must also provide confirmations of the announcement to the CSBC.
