CRTC Begins Public Consultations on Banning Fox News From Canadian Cable Packages
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has opened online consultations with the Canadian public to receive feedback on a request made by an LGBTQ rights advocacy organization asking the commission to ban Fox News programming from Canadian cable television packages due to previous comments made by former Fox host Tucker Carlson.
Egale Canada wrote an open letter to the CRTC on April 4 asking Canada’s broadcast regulator to begin a “consultation on the appropriateness” of Fox News’ availability in cable packages, after Carlson said during a segment of “Tucker Carlson Tonight” that some transgender people “seem to be mad, specifically at traditional Christians.”
“It was just last week that we noticed that parts of the transgender movement seemed to be getting militant and possibly dangerous,” Carlson said on March 28, commenting on the killing of several children and adults at a private Christian school in Nashville on March 27 by a shooter identifying as transgender.
Egale said Carlson’s comments “aimed to provoke hatred and violence against 2SLGBTQI+ communities,” adding that, as a result, Fox News programming is “in clear violation of Canadian broadcasting standards and has no place on Canadian broadcasting networks.”
“We are calling on the CRTC to begin public consultations on the removal of Fox News from the list of non-Canadian programming authorized for distribution in Canada,” Egale wrote.
Carlson has left Fox News since Egale’s letter of complaint. Nevertheless, the CRTC opened its consultations on the matter on May 3.
As of May 4, two submissions are available for viewing on the CRTC’s online consultation portal, both expressing opposition to removing Fox News from Canadian cable packages.
The CRTC would not comment on Egale’s request that Fox News be banned, as it said the commission is currently reviewing the issue.
Canadian individuals and groups can submit their feedback through the online consultation until June 2.
The CRTC maintains a list of international broadcasters that cable providers can offer Canadians in packages. The broadcast regulator revoked Russia Today’s broadcasting licence, after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
Conservative MP Michael Chong has also called on the federal government to issue an order-in-council asking the CRTC to ban Beijing’s state-run China Global Television Network (CGTN).
“CGTN, China’s authoritarian state-controlled broadcaster, is still operating here, spreading disinformation and propaganda and violating international human rights laws,” Chong said to Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino during a House committee meeting on Canada-China relations on Feb. 6.
