CHOI FM APPEARS IN COURT TO SAVE BROADCAST LICENCE Broadcaster Magazine Federal broadcast regulators do not have the right to censor controversial radio broadcasts, a lawyer argued Tuesday on behalf of a Quebec City radio station facing banishment from the airwaves.
Genex Communications, the parent company of CHOI-FM, appeared before the Federal Court of Appeal on Tuesday in a bid to save its broadcast licence.
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission refused to renew CHOI's licence for repeatedly airing insulting and offensive comments.
"A radio station has never been shut down in the history of the world (for editorial content), except in totalitarian states," Guy Bertrand, CHOI's lawyer, argued in front of a three-judge panel.
"It's not up to the CRTC to pass judgment on the content of broadcasts. We're not asking for CHOI-FM to get special treatment. But its censorship when non-elected officials decide what is allowed to be broadcast."
Describing CHOI's hosts, including former controversial morning man Jean-Francois Filion, as "right-wing, pro-American populists," Bertrand said the court must protect freedom of the press.
The CRTC took away the station's license in 2004 saying it received a host of complaints "with respect to the conduct of the hosts and the spoken word content that is aired, including offensive comments, personal attacks and harassment." A Quebec court recently awarded $340,000 to Sophie Chiasson, a television weather presenter who Filion targeted for ridicule.
Bertrand said 26 of the 47 complaints against CHOI were rejected. Thirteen other complaints are still pending and only eight became "presumed infractions," Bertrand said. The complaints covered about 10 minutes of the morning show. "And it's impossible to avoid complaints because it's radio that shakes up ideas," Bertrand said.
A lawyer for the CRTC refused to comment on the case, saying he would save his argument for the judges.
Bertrand tried to block the CRTC from presenting a submission to the court Tuesday, saying the regulator is acting like the police, prosecutor and judge.
The hearing will continue this week. |