INDEPTH: CRTC
Guardian of the airwaves
CBC News Online | April 7, 2006
The CRTC – the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission – was born in 1968 as the Canadian Radio-Television Commission, the child of a new broadcasting act. It was set up to regulate the broadcast industry in Canada – a job that had been done by the CBC until 1958, when the government set up the CRTC's precursor, the Board of Broadcast Governors.
It was the CRTC's job to carry out and oversee provisions of the new broadcasting act, including:
- Stronger restrictions on foreign ownership of broadcast outlets.
- Ensuring adequate amounts of Canadian content.
- A vision of the broadcasting system as a means of strengthening Canada's cultural, social and economic structures.
In the days before the 500-channel universe, the CRTC's greatest power was in handing out those precious few radio and television licences. In 1976, the CRTC's powers – and name – were further expanded to include federally regulated common carriers, the phone companies.
Under the Broadcasting Act, the CRTC has the power to grant licences to radio and television stations for up to seven years. Once a broadcaster has a licence, renewing it is usually a formality. The company has to reapply for its licence – and the public has the right to be heard. If there have been enough complaints, or if the regulator has decided that the broadcaster is not living up to the spirit of its licence, it can impose conditions on the renewal of the licence. In some cases, the CRTC may grant a temporary renewal – of a year or two. In those cases, it will stipulate what conditions must be met for the licence to be fully renewed again.
That's what happened in the case of Quebec City radio station CHOI. The CRTC put the station's owners – Genex Communications – on notice on July 16, 2002, the last time the station's licence came up for renewal.
The CRTC renewed CHOI's licence for two years and ordered it to clean up its act. The agency said it had received 47 complaints between 1998 and 2001, mostly about morning radio host Jean-Francois Fillion. The complaints ranged from on-air swearing and sexually explicit and racist comments to hate propaganda.
The complaints included:
- Fillion is "incapable of refraining from asking every female caller how big her chest is."
- Fillion suggested one morning in July 1998 that an "Indian hunting season" be opened in the fall instead of game hunting season.
- In a discussion of a court case in which a father was charged with murdering his disabled daughter, Fillion "compared disabled children to animals, with no conscience and no feelings."
Genex Communications cited free speech protections and argued that the comments should have been taken in context. It noted that the target audience was young adults, a group that may not find the station's content offensive. Still, Genex promised to make some changes, among them adopting a code of ethics, complying with the guidelines on gender portrayal set out in the Canadian Association of Broadcasters' (CAB) Sex-Role Portrayal Code for Radio and Television Programming, and establishing an advisory committee to advise CHOI on regulatory matters.
The CRTC also has the power to revoke licences, although it's rarely done. The agency stresses that "all persons who are licensed to carry on broadcasting undertakings have a responsibility for the programs they broadcast." It cited that provision as well as continued complaints about CHOI's content, when it pulled the station's licence on July 13, 2004. The CRTC invited others to apply for a licence to serve the Quebec City area.
The decision has stirred controversy. Enn Raudsepp, head of the journalism department at Montreal's Concordia University, calls it "drastic overkill."
"A lot of things get said which we don't agree with," Raudsepp told CBC News. "If we start making these kinds of decisions, where do you draw the line? Who gets shut out next?"
Raudsepp would rather see a judge sanction radio hosts who go too far. But a former radio show host in Quebec City calls the CRTC decision "a reasonable restriction on freedom of expression. I think it's not exact to confuse liberty of expression with the liberty to say everything about everybody," Andrée Boucher said.
Two days after coming down hard on CHOI, the CRTC gave the green light to Al-Jazeera, the all news satellite TV station based in Qatar. It's been accused of broadcasting anti-Semitic programs. The United States has charged the station is anti-American, inaccurate and has shown extremely graphic images from the conflict in Iraq.
Al-Jazeera has issued a code of ethics, saying it would distinguish between news, analysis and commentary to avoid "falling in the trap of propaganda and speculation." It also promised to "acknowledge any mistake as soon as it is made and take the initiative to correct it and avoid repeating it."
The CRTC has imposed limits on the licence that requires cable companies carrying the channel to ensure that no abusive material is aired. The commission said it is encouraged that Al-Jazeera has adopted a code of ethics.
The CRTC controversy comes months after the issue of on-air obscenities flared up in the United States. The American broadcast regulator – the Federal Communications Commission – has been threatening to crack down on so-called shock jocks, like syndicated radio host Howard Stern. Stern has cited constitutional protection of free speech for the segments of his show that critics complain are sexist or obscene.
Stern's show used to be carried in Canada, and was the focus of many complaints. On Dec. 22, 1999, the CRTC renewed Toronto radio station CILQ's licence for six years, despite a claim from the group MediaWatch that "the continuation of The Howard Stern Show allows sexism, racism, hate mongering, child pornography etc. to be elicited on the airwaves."
CILQ had earlier agreed to edit The Howard Stern Show to take out the naughty bits. MediaWatch called the editing "minimal."
Eventually, the audience decided. Stern's ratings north of the border faltered, and the show was dropped.
South of the border, the FCC says obscene speech is not protected by constitutional guarantees of freedom of speech. Obscene speech, it says, is never allowed. However, profane or indecent speech is different. That's restricted to between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.
FOREIGN REGULATORS
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U.K. - Office of Communications (Ofcom):
- Balance the promotion of choice and competition with the duty to foster plurality, informed citizenship, protect viewers, listeners and customers and promote cultural diversity.
- Serve the interests of the citizen-consumer as the communications industry enters the digital age.
U.S. - Federal Communications Commission (FCC):
- Established by the Communications Act of 1934.
- Charged with regulating interstate and international communications by radio, television, wire, satellite and cable.
- Can levy fines and revoke licences of stations that break broadcast standards.
Australia - The Australian Communications Authority (ACA):
- Licenses telecommunications carriers, ensures compliance with carrier licence conditions and service provider rules, and monitors service performance and quality.
- Encourages industry self-regulation through the development of voluntary industry codes of practice and technical standards.
For links to other regulators, go to www.cellular-news.com/regulator/
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