Ottawa, July 24, 1998 -- The Canadian Broadcast Standards Council (CBSC) today issued its decision regarding an episode of STV (Saskatoon)’s broadcast of Friends, a situation comedy which airs weekly across Canada on the Global Television System. A viewer of the episode in question had complained that she was “horrified at the content of the show referring to the cast’s promiscuous behaviour in very blatant terms.”
The CBSC’s Prairie Regional Council considered the complaint under the Sex-Role Portrayal Code of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB). Noting that the episode did not contain any scenes of nudity or sexual contact or any explicit descriptions of sexual activity, the Council concluded that, while the subject matter of the episode in question could be described as “mature”, it did not breach the provisions of the Code. The Council stated that it is not without sympathy regarding the complainant’s concern that “our next generation’s moral standards be based on solid ground” but added
The question to ask and answer relates to where the responsibility for ensuring that result must lie. For reasons explained in part at somewhat greater length immediately below, the CBSC does not believe that this show violates any of the Sex-Role Portrayal Code (or any other Code)’s provisions. There is no doubt that this episode of Friends is exploring mature issues but it is doing this in a thoughtful, amusing, tongue-in-cheek fashion. Even if the theme or the dialogue were inappropriate for some family viewing, neither was, in the Prairie Regional Council’s view, exploitative or gratuitous.
The Council also commented that the complainant seemed to take issue with the fact that this episode featured a woman seducing a man. In that regard, the Council noted that clause 2(c) of the Sex-Role Portrayal Code states that “Television and radio programming should portray women and men as equal beneficiaries of the positive attributes of family and single-person life. [Emphasis added.]”
In the Council’s view, by portraying Phoebe as the one eager to enter into a sexual relationship and her boyfriend as the one wanting “to hold off until he was prepared to be really serious”, this episode reinforces the precept of equality... Whether one does or does not accept that pre-marital sex is appropriate for any family, ... it is extremely important to accept the idea that broadcasters have a responsibility to ensure that men and women, boys and girls, are presented as equals in society and social situations. Accordingly, ... the depiction of single-life in this episode of Friends is laudable rather than sanctionable.
Canada’s private broadcasters have created industry standards in the form of Codes on ethics, gender portrayal and television violence by which they expect their members will abide. They also created the CBSC, which is the self-regulatory body with the responsibility of administering those Codes, as well as the Code dealing with journalistic practices created by the Radio Television News Directors Association Canada (RTNDA). More than 430 radio and television stations and specialty services from across Canada are members of the Council.
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