Regulations committee drops advice to CRTC on false and misleading news

OTTAWA—Facing mounting public pressure, the Standing Joint Committee for the Scrutiny of Regulations, a committee of the House and Senate, agreed Thursday to withdraw advice to the CRTC to water down a regulation prohibiting the broadcast of false and misleading news. Some observers now expect the CRTC, which is against the proposal, to withdraw or abandon the regulatory change it put forward in consultations launched in December and January. The amendment would change the commission’s prohibition on the broadcast of false and misleading news so that it would instead be a prohibition on “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.” In its January notice of consultation, the CRTC said the amendment was brought forward to “address concerns raised by Parliament’s Standing Joint Committee for the Scrutiny of Regulations.” The Wire Report has reported that the CRTC opposes the amendment but the regulations committee, which reviews regulations to ensure they are enacted correctly, ultimately has the power to force regulatory changes. At the meeting Thursday, the regulations committee agreed to send a letter to the CRTC saying that the committee no longer wishes to pursue the matter. The committee’s legal counsel has written letters to the CRTC—one as recently as Dec. 23, 2010—saying that the CRTC’s prohibition on the broadcast of false and misleading news is not consistent with the Supreme Court’s 1992 ruling R. v. Zundel, which, on the basis of freedom of expression under the Charter, struck down the Criminal Code’s prohibition on the publication of false information or news. But the CRTC has argued in letters to the committee that the Criminal Code provision struck down by the Supreme Court was far broader, covering all published statements. The commission argues that, due to the power and immediacy of broadcasting, the harm resulting from the airing of false or misleading news is greater than the publication of false or misleading statements. Nearly all MPs and senators on the committee agreed with that position Thursday. Liberal MP and committee member Derek Lee said the issue originally arose because the wording in the CRTC broadcasting regulations was very similar to the wording affected by the Zundel decision. “Everyone was seduced, and even me at first reading, into thinking, ‘Boy, if they struck it down in Zundel, they sure would strike it down here,” he said. But he noted that the CRTC places many restrictions on television programming through the issue of broadcasting licences. “This restriction on expression exists within the umbrella of a licence, so this restriction in the regulation does not apply to the whole country. It’s a restriction put on a licensee.” Lee said he wished the CRTC had communicated better and earlier with the committee about its position to avoid the confusion. But the CRTC expressed its opposition to the proposed regulatory change as early Nov. 1, 2001, in a letter to the committee’s legal counsel. Conservative MP Randy Kamp said during the meeting Thursday that, based on the committee’s advice to the CRTC, the commission started its consultation on the regulatory changes. “Now this committee is questioning whether the advice … it provided to the CRTC was actually right. We need to figure that one out because this thing is now in the public and becoming a focus,” Kamp said. The proposed amendment has elicited national headlines and sparked a public backlash that resulted in more than 3,000 comments in the CRTC's consultation that closed Feb. 9. Much of the criticism about the proposal has also been directed at the CRTC. “Proponents within the CRTC are claiming that this change is in reaction to a Supreme Court decision, but that ruling was made fifteen years ago and has almost nothing to do with TV news standards,” international advocacy group Avaaz.org says in campaign literature about the issue. “We can stop this—last year, we prevented Harper cronies from pressing the CRTC to fund ‘Fox News North’ with public money. Now, we have just two days to raise another national outcry to save the standards of Canadian journalism, and our democracy. Sign the petition below, and tell everyone.” NDP MP and digital affairs critic Charlie Angus has also criticized CRTC’s proposed amendment, drawing links between it and the coming launch of Quebecor Media Inc.’s Sun TV News channel, being led by Kory Teneycke, the former director of communications to Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Critics have dubbed the right-leaning news channel, expected to launch in March, “Fox News North.” Lee said at the meeting Thursday that it is probably best for the committee to get out of the way of the commission’s work on the issue, and acknowledged that the public is taking an interest. “We should probably let them do their job, and if they choose to speak with our counsel for some particular reason, that’s great,” he said of the commission. “There seems to be an appetite in the public … for some kind of regulation on what’s being broadcast.” Liberal Senator Wilfred Moore said the proposed amendment could lead to the kind of news reporting seen in the U.S. on Fox News. But one parliamentarian—Conservative Rob Anders, a vice-chair of the regulations committee—spoke in support of the proposed regulatory amendment Thursday. Anders said the existing CRTC regulatory tool allows it to use a “hammer to hit the flea” and that it could restrict freedom of expression. “He may not be a fan of Fox News," Anders said in response to Moore. "I was the only member of Parliament to write, asking the CRTC to allow Fox News into Canada. So while he may not enjoy what Fox News puts out, I and many of my constituents do." The CRTC’s licence restriction on the broadcast of false or misleading news is rarely if ever enforced. If the commission chose to go ahead with the amendment, the Canadian Broadcasting Standards Council (CBSC), an independent, self-regulating body of about 760 private broadcasters, also has codes in place to enforce ethics and accuracy in broadcast news. sdoyle@thewirereport.ca

Regulations committee drops advice to CRTC on false and misleading news

Broadcast | February 17, 2011

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