The story was picked up by CBC here, the Toronto Star here,the Epoch Times here, and the Penticton Herald here.
Media Advisory
CRTC Cites Repeated Hate Incitement then Accepts Offending Channel
Will Request that Government Overturn Decision to Protect Canadians
OTTAWA - The Falun Dafa Association of Canada will pursue all legal and governmental avenues to reverse the highly irresponsible and negligent decision by CRTC to approve nine Chinese state controlled TV channels including CCTV4 to the digital lists (Public Notice CRTC 2006-166). State owned CCTV4 was judged to repeatedly air “clearly abusive” programming, exposing “the targeted group or individual to hatred or contempt,” which “could incite violence and threaten the physical security of Falun Gong practitioners.” The long delayed decision was unexpectedly released Friday, Dec. 22.
In its own words the CRTC states, “The Commission considers that these comments are clearly abusive, in that they are expressions of extreme ill will against Falun Gong and its founder, Li Hongzhi. The derision, hostility and abuse encouraged by such comments could expose the targeted group or individual to hatred or contempt and, in the case of the first comment, the statement could incite violence and threaten the physical security of Falun Gong practitioners.”
The Falun Dafa Association had submitted evidence detailing how CCTV-4 is a Chinese communist regime owned and operated media channel that has been used as part of their government policy since 1999 to “eliminate Falun Gong” in what Amnesty International has called a “massive propaganda campaign” to incite hatred against and dehumanize Falun Gong men, women and children. This hate incitement has led to the documented widespread torture and killing of thousands of Falun Gong practitioners in China.
CRTC states that they cannot conclude that repeated abusive programming from 1999 and 2001 is “typical” of CCTV4 content. However, the Falun Dafa Association submitted evidence that the Chinese regime’s mandate to eradicate Falun Gong remains in place today and people are continually tortured and killed due to the same government policy. This makes it extremely likely that CCTV-4 as a state run channel will continue to perpetuate hatred against Falun Gong in China which would then be rebroadcast in Canada.
Xun Li, president of the Falun Dafa Association of Canada said, “Finding taped evidence of past television programs is very difficult. For CRTC to assume that no hate programming aired after 2001 because evidence was not submitted for that time period is negligent and contradicts the numerous cases of abuse by CCTV4 already cited by CRTC. It also ignores CCTV4’s obligation to support the Communist regime’s mandate to persecute Falun Gong. This is extremely irresponsible and clearly puts Canadians at risk.”
The CRTC also stated that, “Removal of [CCTV-4] is a remedy that the Commission will be prepared to exercise if it finds that abusive comment has been aired on the service while it is distributed in Canada.”
However the question is raised as to how the CRTC will know if further abusive programming airs. CRTC did not place any onus on Rogers, the carrier and sponsor, to monitor CCTV4. Rogers implored CRTC to not impose this security measure stating that it would cost over $625,000 per year to monitor one channel. Consequently, CRTC has left this monitoring onus to potential victims.
If allowing this abusive channel to air in Canada, CRTC should require Rogers to monitor CCTV4 for further programming that could incite hatred against Canadians just as they did with Al Jazeera.
The CRTC is the first government organization to investigate and conclude that China’s state run television has, on multiple occasions, incited hatred and encouraged the Chinese public to commit harm against practitioners of Falun Gong. They also agree that Falun Gong falls under the category of a group that is eligible and deserving of protection.
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