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The faces of Canadian communities have changed. Pity the television news we watch hasn’t. In its recent decisions renewing Global and CTV’s licences, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) notes that broadcast news isn’t offering enough cultural diversity. (As if we hadn’t already noticed.) Indeed, newsrooms at the media monoliths have a long way to go before they’ll truly reflect the communities they cover.
CTV/CFTO (not including Newsnet)
Number of news readers: 7
Number of visible minority news readers: 2
CTV to CRTC: “We do believe that we have made great progress around issues of portrayal and story selection, and I think those are at the absolute front end of a lot of our (cultural diversity) initiatives, but we believe that the other parts of the initiatives have been slow in coming.”
Global (Toronto)
Number of news readers: 4
Number of visible minority news readers: 0
Number of visible minority reporters: 5
Global to CRTC: “We have made great strides in on-air positions and senior on-air positions to reflect the community.”
CBC (Toronto only)
Number of visible minority news readers: 6
Number of visible minority reporters: 2
CBC executive director of news programming Tony Burman: “Our goal in a multicultural country is to have a multicultural news team.”
Citytv (BT, CityPulse, CP24)
Number of news readers: 12
Number of visible minority news readers: 2
Number of visible minority reporters: 5
(anchors and reporters often do dual roles)
Stephen Hurlbut, vice-president of news programming: “Citytv has had the guts and the foresight and the commitment to give everybody a shot. And those with less than the imagination that we may show come in and cherry-pick at the end of it because the CRTC may tell them it’s the right thing to do.”
CRTC TV policy statement, 1999:
The regulator “will expect all conventional television licencees (at licensing or licence renewal) to make specific commitments to initiatives designed to ensure that they contribute to a system that more accurately reflects the presence of cultural and racial minorities and aboriginal peoples in the communities they serve.”
The regulator wants to see the creation of “a task force involving broadcasters and community representatives that could identify ‘best practices.'”
Progress as of spring 2001 (CTV and Global licence renewal hearings):
No action plans at Global or CTV promoting cultural diversity.
No creation of industry/ community task force.
Commitments from CTV and Global upon licence renewal by CRTC, August 2001:
Will provide commission with a clear strategy on cultural diversity.
Will provide annual reports on achieving those goals.
Will support industry/community task force on cultural diversity.
CRTC wants cultural diversity strategy to include:
Goals supporting programming reflective of Canada’s cultural diversity.
Identifying senior exec accountable for diversity practices.
Setting clear goals for station managers.
Setting out plans for hiring and retention of visible minorities.
Using people from minority groups as sources regardless of whether the issue discussed is a minority issue.
Ensuring that stories about ethnic communities do not appear solely within context of cultural celebrations or negative stories.
Ensuring that on-air personalities reflect the diversity of the community.
Ensuring that minority reporters and journalists are not assigned exclusively to stories of principal concern to cultural groups.
