Broadcast Watchdog Flooded by Sun News Complaints

Any guesses as to how long before Ezra Levant and co. start a quixotic crusade against the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council?

A 20-minute “interview” with an interpretive dancer on the Sun News Network led to more than 4,300 complaints to the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council – the most the television watchdog has ever had, and more than double the amount it usually gets in a year. Earlier this month, Sun News anchor Kirsta Erickson invited interpretive dance legend Margie Gillis on to discuss arts funding, but Erickson quickly reduced the exchange to yelling at Gillis over why she has received some $1.3 million dollars in federal funding since 1998. Gillis, to her credit, refused to raise her voice and offered a substantial defence of the arts, whereas Erickson mocked Gillis' craft and drew ridiculous parallels to the war in Afghanistan, losing, in the process, whatever credibility as a reporter she had left. The tide of complaints over the segment forced the CBSC to post a note on its website saying it wouldn't process any more claims, a first in the body's history. The CBSC can't impose fines, but it can require its members to air apologies and explanations if a panel finds that the network infringed on the broadcaster's code of ethics. We'd settle for Erickson being forced to watch 12 hours' worth of interpretive dance.

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