Image Credit: CBSC

By James Peters

Canadian Broadcast Standards Council

Broadcast standards body finds no breaches in controversial Kamloops radio talk show segment

Mar 7, 2024 | 10:43 AM

KAMLOOPS — The Canadian Broadcast Standards Council (CBSC) has ruled a Kamloops radio talk show segment did not breach a professional ethical code despite generating more than 150 complaints.

The segment aired on Radio NL on Oct. 27, 2023 — three weeks after a Hamas attack that killed and brutalized hundreds of Israelis. Host Brett Mineer conducted a telephone interview with Umme Mansoory, director of the Kamloops Islamic Association.

The interview saw Mineer and Mansoory disagreeing sharply on characterizations of the ensuing conflict in Gaza and whether Hamas should be considered a terrorist organization. Eventually, Mineer cut the interview off.

In a news release issued Thursday (March 7), the CBSC says it received 157 complaints about the broadcast, with 17 of them requesting a CBSC ruling. Complainants alleged the segment was discriminatory and unfair toward the guest and Palestinians in general.

The CBSC says its panel adjudicated the complaints through the lens of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters’ Code of Ethics.

Looped In

LOOPED IN WITH NIKKI OMEN: December 12, 2024

14m ago

One Man's Opinion

COLLINS: North Shore BIA working hard to develop a 'happening place'

6h ago

1000 Ways to Heal

1000 Ways to Heal: Moons

Dec 10, 2024

The panel found both Mineer and Mansoory had the opportunity to express their opinions and “no negative comments” were made toward Mansoory or Palestinians in general.

“Both parties made statements that could be considered hyperbole, but there was nothing materially inaccurate in the broadcast,” said the CBSC in a news release.

The full text of the CBSC ruling can be found here.

——

Editor’s Note: CFJC is part of the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council but did not take part in this adjudication process.