6. Alternatives to the unedited video

Airing disturbing content doesn’t have to be a matter of airing all or airing nothing. There are always alternatives to showing a video in its full form. Krop’s team, for example, blurred parts of the video when they aired it. In an earlier newscast, they opted to have a reporter describe the video. Still images, […]

4. The way it played out: When graphic content was aired

CBC has a history of airing graphic or otherwise disturbing content. For example, senior producers at CBC’s The National chose to broadcast the image of Alan Kurdi, the Syrian toddler who drowned, and whose body washed up on the shore of Turkey. That decision was controversial, and was met with complaints. One in particular led to a […]

3. Graphic content and broadcast policy

CBC and Global are both subject to the Broadcasting Act, which makes no direct mention of airing images of violence. Instead, it defers to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), which has established criteria that calls for graphic content advisories, restricts gratuitous or glamorized violence, and states when graphic content can be aired [1]. […]

1. Global goes to air: “‘Have you no souls? Have you no heart?’”

Global B.C. chose to air a blurred version of the video. Global B.C. news director Jill Krop says it was a difficult decision, and one that was met with shock, anger, and even a petition on Change.org, calling for her immediate resignation. The fallout from Global’s broadcast prompted Krop to defend her decision on CKNW, an […]