OTTAWA – Added special effects rendered a news report unfair and biased in contravention of broadcast codes, the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council (CBSC) has ruled.
The CBSC investigated a news report that aired on Global Calgary and Global Edmonton in April 2016 about a man in Red Deer who had been charged under that City’s unusual anti-bullying by-law after his neighbours complained about him.
The report, which referred to the man as a “neighbour from hell” and “Bitter Bob”, included interviews with neighbours describing the man’s harassing behaviour, as well as an interview with the man who accused his neighbours of being out to get him. The report featured visual and audio effects that had been added during the editing stage, such as cheerful music and bright lighting when showing the man’s street, but black-and-white colour and the sound of a crow cawing when zooming in on the man’s house.
A viewer complained that the report had been biased against the man, contained some inaccuracies, and violated the man’s privacy. Global agreed that the special effects had been inappropriate, but considered the report otherwise acceptable under the codes.
The CBSC’s English-Language Panel agreed, concluding that the report breached Clauses 5 and 6 of the CAB Code of Ethics and Article 1 of the RTDNA Code of Ethics. In addition, the Panel determined that the points alleged by the complainant to be inaccurate were either unverifiable or not particularly material, and that the report did not violate that man’s privacy because he granted an interview to the reporter.
