OTTAWA – If you’re going to pump the local home reno guy on your radio show – and have him on as a regular guest – you have to make it clear to the good listenership that the hammer man has paid for the air time.
The Canadian Broadcast Standards Council said today that the Murray Segal broadcast on CHWO-AM (AM 740, Oakville) violated the Canadian Association of Broadcasters’ (CAB) Code of Ethics for failing to inform listeners that a talk show had been sponsored by the company whose owner was as a guest on the program.
Sunday Showcase is a music and talk program that includes discussions with guests, one of whom, a recurring guest, was the owner of a local home renovation company. The host asked questions of the company owner about different types of renovation projects and occasionally suggested during the broadcast that listeners could “give the good folks at [the company] a call” because “they do excellent work.” Segal also provided the company’s telephone number and website numerous times.
A listener complained to the CBSC that CHWO did not reveal that the company actually paid the station for the opportunity to appear on the program. She also argued that the host’s endorsement of the company was inappropriate. The station admitted that the segment was paid for and effectively constituted an advertisement, but did not announce this fact because “to do so would be stating the obvious.”
Not so, said the CBSC’s Ontario Panel. Under Clauses 6 and 14 of the CAB Code of Ethics, broadcasters must make absolutely clear the separation of advertisements from news or information programs. “The Panel disagreed with the station’s assertion and determined that it should have informed listeners that the program was sponsored,” said the release.
The Panel also noted that CHWO should have been aware that it was required to “advise its audience of that sponsorship clearly, transparently and unequivocally” because the CBSC had clearly established that principle in a previous decision released in 2006.
