Union fights relaxation of broadcast rules
against false, misleading news
CRTC proposal draws fierce reactions
CWA Canada has joined the rush to the broadcasting barricades to keep U.S.-style right-wing political vitriol from poisoning our airwaves.
The union's largest Local, the Canadian Media Guild (CMG), in a submission today appeals to the federal regulator to seek more public input before weakening rules that prohibit the broadcast of false and misleading news.
The rule change is widely seen as an accommodation of Quebecor-owned SunTV, which is about to launch a right-wing news channel modeled on the Fox News Network. Prime Minister Stephen Harper is known to be a supporter of the venture, which is headed by Kory Teneycke, his former director of communications.
Arnold Amber, Director of CWA Canada, says what has aroused suspicion is the low-key manner in which the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) introduced the proposed changes and the limited time it allowed for Canadians to comment.
The CRTC on Jan. 10 quietly posted on its website a notice that it proposes to change the wide-ranging probibition on broadcasting "any false or misleading news" to a ban on the broadcast of "any news that the licensee knows is false or misleading and that endangers or is likely to endanger the lives, health or safety of the public." It gave Canadians until today, Feb. 9, to comment on the change.
Monica Auer, a lawyer with expertise in telecommunications policy, in a blog posting at OpenMedia.ca, notes that the CRTC wants to make the same change in its cable/satellite regulations, with the deadline to comment set for Feb. 16. She suggests that, if no one opposes the separate proposal and it is adopted, the radio and television broadcasters could ultimately demand similar treatment.
Amber says CWA Canada is dedicated to maintaining a high journalistic standard. "While it appears to be a subtle change that the CRTC is proposing, in practise it would open the floodgates to the ideology-driven invective that passes for political discourse in the electronic media south of the border."
In its submission, the CMG says the Commission "appears to be proposing to give licensees free rein to lie and mislead the Canadian public in the guise of delivering news ... This kind of loosening of the rules can be interpreted as a frontal assault on democratic debate and the notion of an informed citizenry."
The CMG, which represents 6,000 media workers, including some 2,000 journalists and electronic newsgatherers, calls on the CRTC to withdraw its proposed amendment of the regulations and to "convene a separate proceeding on news to address the social and political imperatives of preventing the broadcast of false and misleading news while maintaining journalistic independence."
The CMG argues that, at a time when "a declining number of private owners control a larger amount of our public airwaves, there is more public concern than ever about the quality and diversity of news, information and analysis available to Canadians. The majority of private licensees are part of large corporate groups that have a broad range of social, political and economic interests of their own. A journalistic decision made in a single corner office reaches the screens and radios of millions of Canadians. And it is very difficult – if not impossible – to reverse the devastating effects of an irresponsible decision that serves to mislead Canadian viewers and listeners. This is a dangerous time to reduce the responsibilities of licensees with respect to the news that they deliver."
By late this afternoon, the CRTC had received more than 3,000 submissions from Canadians, many of them expressing their concern that news and information programming would be turned into propaganda to serve corporate and political interests.
The Commons committee on Canadian heritage, at the urging of NDP MP Charlie Angus, will be studying the proposed regulation changes; witnesses could be called as early as next week.