TORONTO – VisionTV has vowed to never again air lectures by an Islamic preacher with self-professed “radical” views after some viewers complained bitterly of a recent broadcast.
The network has pledged to review its standards and procedures after it aired another program by the same lecturer the day after publicly promising not to give airtime to those who preach violence and hatred.
Some Jewish groups were upset when VisionTV aired an episode of Dil Dil Pakistan over a week ago that featured a lecture by Israr Ahmad. Though the broadcaster points out that Ahmad never made any statements about the Jewish people and the Holocaust on-air, his previous writings claim Jewish conspiracy and call for global Islamic domination.
The broadcaster admits it made a mistake by showing another episode recently. “There can be no doubt that allowing Israr Ahmad to appear on air the day after we made a commitment to disassociate VisionTV from those who would preach and support violence and hatred is an unacceptable failure of process,” said President and CEO Bill Roberts in a statement. “We have taken clear steps to ensure that Mr. Ahmad will not appear on VisionTV again.”
The producer of Dil Dil Pakistan has assured the broadcaster “that this program will never again provide a platform for those who would advocate racism, hatred, or violence,” Roberts said. “We will hold all of our faith programming partners to this standard, and Dil Dil Pakistan is certainly on our priority watch list.”
Roberts said that VisionTV has consulted with the Canadian Jewish Congress and B’nai Brith Canada to “bring closure to this matter.” The broadcaster will issue a formal apology “at the earliest opportunity.” It will also form a task force with faith leaders and members of its board and management team to “a comprehensive review” of its standards and procedures. VisionTV will also seek a guiding opinion from the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council, the industry’s self-regulating body, “to solicit suggestions for safeguarding our airwaves from hateful behaviour and expression.”
