OTTAWA – Last fall a viewer in search of cartoons for the children he was babysitting came across a broadcast of RKO 281 on Bravo! and found the movie contained more than its fair share of F-bombs.
He complained to the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council (and hopefully held his hands over the kiddies’ ears while he was taking notes), which announced its decision today.
The CBSC National Specialty Services Panel concluded that the broadcast contravened Clause 10 of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters’ (CAB) Code of Ethics, which requires that programs containing “coarse or offensive language intended for adult audiences” be broadcast only after 9 p.m.
The made-for-TV movie RKO 281 is a dramatized account of the events leading up to, and the writing and production of, the 1941 feature film Citizen Kane by Orson Welles and RKO Studios. It traces Welles’ development of the movie and the opposition to it by newspaper publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst, who was, by all accounts, the inspiration for Citizen Kane. The broadcast contained a number of instances of unedited coarse language, including the f-word and variations thereof.
The viewer rightly questioned whether such language was appropriate for broadcast on a Saturday afternoon.
The panel agreed and reminded Bravo! that despite the viewer advisories it aired warning of the language in the movie, it either has to air such programs after 9 p.m. (the watershed hour) or bleep the bleeping swear words.
Bravo! is required to: 1) announce the decision, in the following terms, once during prime time 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 RKO 281 was broadcast; 2) within the fourteen days following the broadcast of the announcements, to provide written confirmation of the airing of the statement to the complainant who filed the Ruling Request; and 3) at that time, to provide the CBSC with that written confirmation and with air check copies of the broadcasts of the two announcements which must be made by Bravo!
