An advocacy group that wants the CRTC to ban Fox News says the network’s “abusive content” extends beyond its divisive personalities such as recently fired host Tucker Carlson.
Fox News should be banned from Canadian airwaves because it has “repeatedly and regularly” violated broadcasting standards with content that subjects many groups to hate, Egale Canada is arguing in its formal submission to Canada’s broadcasting regulator.
The LGBTQ rights group is dismissing Fox’s argument that the application to remove its news network from Canadian cable TV packages is “moot” in the wake of prime-time host Tucker Carlson’s ousting in late April.
Egale’s reply submission to the CRTC this week follows thousands of comments, including those from Fox News, that the commission received after seeking public input on the matter.
Egale wrote an open letter to the regulator in early April, asking it to consult the public on the removal of Fox News from the list of non-Canadian programming authorized for distribution in Canada.
The letter cited a March 28 episode of Tucker Carlson Tonight that made “horrifying claims” about transgender and non-binary people, “painting them as violent and dangerous.” The group said it “has experienced first-hand the hate that is generated from a single segment aired on Fox News in Canada.
“We cannot begin to imagine the broader impacts and potential rise in hate that might result from allowing more content like this to air in Canada,” the letter went on.
Fox News urged CRTC to reject request
The CRTC opened what’s called a Part 1 application in early May seeking public comments, with a June 2 deadline for written submissions.
More than 7,000 submissions were published on the CRTC’s website; many of them supported a ban on Fox News while others said the move would be unreasonable and a violation of press freedoms and freedom of expression.
Fox News urged the CRTC to reject the request for its removal and said Egale’s application “hinges on a claim that is now moot,” given that Carlson is no longer with the network.
In any case, delisting Fox News “would be grossly disproportionate and unprecedented” and contrary to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the network’s legal counsel argued in a submission to the CRTC.
Fox has not disclosed the reason for Carlson’s ouster, but it happened less than a week after the network agreed to pay Dominion Voting Systems nearly $800 million US to settle the voting machine company’s lawsuit over false claims aired about the 2020 U.S. presidential election.
Fox News has agreed to settle a defamation lawsuit with Dominion Voting Systems for $787.5 million US. CBC’s David Common talks to U.S. media journalist Brian Stelter and CBC Washington correspondent Katie Simpson about the potential implications.
The New York Times has reported that material uncovered as part of the lawsuit proceedings included “highly offensive” remarks Carlson made in private messages.
Egale executive director Helen Kennedy said in an interview last week that although the group’s open letter referenced a particular segment of Carlson’s show, the problem with Fox News is much broader.
“We know from the research that we’ve done on Fox around some of the other issues that anti-LGBTI sentiment runs deep within that organization, and so it’s a cultural issue within the organization and it certainly goes beyond one particular host,” she said.
Kennedy said the push to ban Fox News is one way to address rising hate toward LGBTQ groups, evidenced by violent rhetoric against trans rights, Pride flag raising and other inclusion initiatives on both sides of the border.
Fox News did not respond to a request for comment on such submissions by publication time.
Network ‘violates Canadian regulations,’ group says
The CRTC can delist an international TV channel previously authorized for distribution in Canada if it believes the content would violate regulations that apply to licensed Canadian broadcasters.
That happened last year in the case of Russia’s state-run broadcaster, RT, which was banned from distribution in Canada following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The CRTC said that RT’s content is “likely to expose the Ukrainian people to hatred or contempt on the basis of their race, national or ethnic origin.”
In its submission to the CRTC, Fox News argued that the regulator’s decision in the case of RT “is distinct and has no bearing here.” Egale disputed that in its response, saying the CRTC requires “clear evidence that the broadcast of Fox News violates Canadian regulations,” just like it did with RT.
Some submissions to the CRTC argued that banning Fox News would be an act of censorship and deny Canadians access to differing viewpoints.
“I oppose limits on free speech and limits on journalistic freedoms. This isn’t Russia or China,” one person wrote.
The CRTC said in an email to The Canadian Press that it will “analyze the public record and issue its decision in due course.”
On its website, the commission says its “service objective” for Part 1 applications is to issue a decision within four months of the last day to file all submissions on the matter.
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