The Canadian Broadcast Standards Council (CBSC) says Toronto’s 680 NewsRadio (CFTR-AM) should have disclosed its ownership during a Toronto Blue Jays giveaway last October.
The CBSC decision is in response to Rogers Communications’ “Bring It Home” campaign, launched during the Blue Jays World Series run, announcing on CFTR that it would be giving away free tickets to fans for every home game. CFTR reported on the giveaway, noting that Rogers owns the baseball team. A listener later complained the station should have mentioned it is also owned by Rogers because the giveaway constituted a promotion of another Rogers-owned entity, suggesting a conflict of interest.
In its defence, Rogers said CFTR covered the story in the same way other, non-Rogers media outlets had, maintaining that management and owners had not influenced or pressured the CFTR newsroom in any way to broadcast the story. It also stated that its station does not disclose its parent company ownership when reporting sports scores for teams owned by Rogers and a requirement to do so would be unmanageable.
The CBSC’s English-Language Panel examined the complaint under the News clause of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters’ (CAB) Code of Ethics and the articles governing Fairness, Independence, and Integrity under the RTDNA Code of Journalistic Ethics. It ultimately concluded that the station should have disclosed its common ownership with the team, constituting a breach of the RTDNA code.
While agreeing the story was in the public interest and there was no attempt from station owners to influence news coverage, there was a perceived conflict of interest because the ticket giveaway had the potential to generate “significant marketing, media and public relations value, positively benefiting Rogers’ public image and corporate branding.”
The panel further stated that the station would not generally be required to disclose ownership when reporting sports scores, but that unique events such as the World Series ticket giveaway, which has a significant marketing value, requires such disclosure.
