Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Canadian Talk Show Violated Ethics Code According To Panel

The Canadian Broadcasters Standards Council-- a non-governmental organization that administers a broadcast ethics code-- has ruled that comments made by a radio talk show host were "sweeping, abusive and unduly discriminatory criticism of Islam" in violation of the CAB Code of Ethics. While the case was decided last October, the Council's decision was not released publicly until last week. (CBSC press release.) In CFRA-AM re an Episode of the Lowell Green Show (Islam), (CBSC, Oct. 22, 2008), an Ontario Regional CBSC Panel adjudicated a complaint over the Lowell Green Show's discussion of Islam. The open-line talk show aired in the wake of Sudanese charges against a British school teacher for having her class name a teddy bear "Mohammed". The Council concluded that: "Green did not merely disagree with opposing points of view; he mocked, ridiculed and insulted their interlocutors."