Canadian Broadcast Standards Council
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The Canadian Broadcast Standards Council is an independent, non-governmental organization created by the Canadian Association of Broadcasters to administer standards established by its members, Canada's private broadcasters.
The Council's membership includes more than 530 private sector radio and television stations, specialty services and networks from across Canada, programming in English, French and third languages. As such, the Council allows the private broadcasting industry to be self-regulating and it acts as an intermediary in the regulatory process, which is governed by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC). The CRTC itself only hears complaints against the few CBSC non-members, as well as viewer appeals of CBSC decisions, although these rarely lead to any additional action.
Although first suggested by private broadcasters as early as 1968, the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council was not created until 1990.
[edit] Council objectives
The Council has 5 primary objectives:
- Assist in the application of broadcast standards developed by the private broadcast industry.
- Inform the public of such standards and the Council's role in self-regulation of the private broadcast industry.
- Provide a forum for public complaints should such standards be violated.
- Provide third-party recommendations to private broadcasters and complainants, should complaint resolution not be achieved.
- Inform broadcasters of emerging societal trends and develop ways to adjust broadcast standards to meet them.
[edit] Comparison with similar organizations
In contrast to the fines imposed by the Federal Communications Commission in the United States, the CBSC has required at most that a station broadcast a council-approved citation on-air during peak viewing hours.
Citations have been issued not only for violations of the content guidelines themselves, but also for failing to provide sufficient information to viewers, i.e. missing or inadequate viewer advisories, or missing ratings icons.
However, the CBSC - and for that matter the CRTC - have a broader mandate than their U.S. counterpart. Both organizations have content jurisdiction over subscription-based services, such as cable specialty channels, which the FCC lacks. Moreover, the CBSC considers not only so-called "indecency" complaints but also complaints dealing with hate speech, sponsorship issues, and journalistic practices.
