CBSC rules sexualization of children breaches code

The Canadian Broadcast Standards Council has issused its ruling about a
complaint against the morning show Roz & Mocha on CKIS-FM (KISS 92.5
Toronto). The complaint state that the hosts belittled the name and
questioned the religon, colour and origin of a 10-year-old caller named
Noah. There was also a conversation about erections.

CBSC’s Ontario Regional Panel” found no breach regarding human rights issues or the sexual comments, except insofar as they invovled the sexualization of children,” Broadcaster Magazine reports.

The Panel made these observations:

“When the hosts put the inappropriate question ‘Are you a white kid or a brown kid?’, Noah avoided the trap by replying, ‘Uh, I’m, well, I’m Canadian.’ Unable to resist an additional inappropriate observation, they concluded, ‘Okay, so you’re white.’ The Panel finds the hosts’ end of the commentary non-inclusive and insensitive. Canada and its largest city are ethnoculturally diverse. For the hosts to in effect draw the conclusion that the equation ‘Canadian equals white’ is the rule, if ever it was, is no longer appropriate broadcast fare. Moreover, such an observation coming from a powerful microphone risks desensitizing the public.”

As for the erection conversation, the Panel “did not find that the banter amounted to unduly sexually explicit material, but the Panel was troubled by sexual commentary relating to a child of 10.” The Panel concluded “that the hosts went beyond the mere reference to a private body part. As in [an earlier Atlantic Panel] decision, the discussion was about a state of arousal. In the Atlantic Panel decision, however, the dialogue was between the two hosts and the Panel still concluded that there had been a breach. In the matter at hand, the discussion was not merely between two adult hosts, it was with a 10-year old. The broadcast of this sexualization of the young caller, Noah, is also exploitative and in clear breach of Clauses 8(a) and 8(b) of the CAB Equitable Portrayal Code.“