National Campus Radio members want to be self-regulated. That is a proposal under review by the CRTC in Public Notice 2011-797: Call for comments on the National Campus and Community Radio Association’s proposed Codes of Conduct and proposed guidelines and best practices.
The last time I wrote about the association of campus radio stations was last September, in relation to the Association having passed a resolution at its annual convention calling for “a comprehensive boycott of Israeli media institutions at the national and international levels.”
That resolution has been made an issue in an intervention by The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) in the CRTC’s review. According to CIJA,
the NCRA’s BDS policy will render their proposed codes of conduct woefully deficient in the application of equitable content and balance, with an ineffective complaints mechanism. It is our position that, if the NCRA proposal is approved, every Israel related complaint against them would have to be adjudicated directly by the CRTC, given the inherent bias resulting from the NCRA’s BDS policy. Instead, it would make far more sense for the NCRA to adhere to the CAB Code of Ethics and be regulated by the CBSC, where complaints could be adjudicated fairly and broadcast programming held to a higher standard. Should the NCRA be granted its own self-regulated codes of conduct, we will ultimately be forced to intervene in their license renewal with the CRTC.
By virtue of a resolution passed by the National Campus Radio Association at its 2011 Plenary, it is not clear that the Association can simultaneously demonstrate the balance required to adjudicate a complaint and adhere to resolution F7 requiring that the body will
Work toward the condemnation of Israeli policies by encouraging that resolutions be adopted by our respective radio stations, associations, and organizations.
This appears to be in direct conflict with NCRA’s proposed Guideline 3 to:
encourage balance in our programming schedules by… actively engaging a variety of volunteers, and encouraging community involvement in our programming, thereby providing the means for diverse points of view to be represented.
These appear to be incompatible.
Mark, I think both you and the CIJA have perhaps confused the political stand a broadcaster might take with its programming.
All of our commercial radio players seem to have political positions — they donate to political parties, and lobby formally and informally on numerous issues — as well as present programming that might cover politics. Are Quebecor and Sun News Channel the same thing? CFRA and Bell?
You miss a few points, among them that commercial radio players aren’t self-regulated, aren’t asking to be self-regulated and to my knowledge, none have called for a “a comprehensive boycott of Israeli media institutions at the national and international levels”. I am also unaware of any political contributions or political stands by the CBSC.
Mark, the CRTC has encouraged, and the commercial broadcasters have embraced, a system of co-regulation of broadcasting content. The CBSC uses codes of conduct developed by industry bodies, most prominently the CAB. I think there is no doubt that commercial broadcasters prefer co-regulation through the CBSC, as opposed to the CRTC managing the complaints process. In fact, at this point it is only community broadcasting complaints that are handled through the CRTC.
Community broadcasters were never members of the CAB, and neither they nor their audiences had any input into those codes. Only one or two community broadcasters out of perhaps 200 are members of the CBSC. Commercial codes are simply insufficient and in some areas inappropriate when dealing with community broadcasting content and operations.
Mark, we may agree that the resolution in question was offensive, but I understand that I will not agree with or like many of the political positions taken by community or commercial broadcasters, either on the air or institutionally. However, their right to have these positons and express them is protected under the Charter, whether it is CKUT at McGill or the Sun News Channel.
I should also mention that CIJA seems to misunderstand the NCRA’s proposal, which is that the CRTC continue to adjudicate complaints. The NCRA is not asking to take on the role of adjudicator.