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EDMONTON, Alberta (LifeSiteNews) – Canada’s Broadcast Standards Council (CBSC) has ruled that one’s vaccination status is “fundamentally private” after judging that an Edmonton radio show host violated a listener’s medical privacy by outing him as unvaccinated live on air.
In a ruling released last Wednesday, the CBSC found Edmonton announcer Lochlin Cross of 95.7 CRUZ FM (CKEA-FM) did indeed violate the Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) Code of Ethics, by divulging a private individual’s “COVID-19 vaccination status” on-air without his consent.
“The choice of whether or not to be vaccinated has been hotly debated on all media, as has the subject of public and personal recriminations. However, whether one is vaccinated or not constitutes medical information that is fundamentally private,” wrote the CBSC’s seven-member English-Language Panel.
The council concluded that Cross, “having clearly identified this individual to the public at large,” went on to “discuss the fact that the complainant was not vaccinated.”
“The revelation of this private, confidential medical information was not only careless but egregious,” the Council wrote.
Cross outed the vaccine-free listener on air during a February 10, 2022 “Topic of the Day” segment of his The LockerRoom radio show.
Cross was discussing the lifting of the COVID pandemic restrictions in the province of Alberta with two co-hosts. He noted that he was hesitant to attend a Super Bowl party at which he knew his vaccine-free friend would be in attendance.
Cross mentioned his friend by his last name, and then later by his nickname, which includes his first name. The hosts joked together that the “friend” was a good one to have “because he would help you bury a body.”
Cross said he was “judgmental” about his friend and that he “avoided him” and “his phone calls,” adding he did not “want to go now” to the Super Bowl party as he still wanted to “follow the rules.”
As a result of Cross’s comments, the named acquaintance filed a complaint with the CBSC.
“Mentioning my vaccination status is the straw that broke the camel’s back – he crossed the line with this one. After that show, I had friends, family and work acquaintances call me to tell me they had heard the show on the way to work – this has caused me huge embarrassment,” Cross’s acquaintance stated.
The complainant added, “Medical information is private and confidential information.”
According to the Canadian Association of Broadcasters’ Code of Ethics, “The full, fair and proper presentation of news, opinion, comment and editorial is the prime and fundamental responsibility of each broadcaster.”
Also, the Radio Television Digital News Association Code of Journalistic Ethics says that all broadcasters should “be respectful, always taking into account editorial relevance and the public interest. We will not infringe on a person’s privacy unless we believe there is overriding public interest.”
Read: Canadian Parliament votes to uphold ban on unvaccinated traveling by land, train, sea
The CBSC ruled that 95.7 CRUZ FM (CKEA-FM) breached both of these codes.
“The complainant had not contacted the station in any way prior to the broadcast and had not given his consent to broadcast his vaccination status,” concluded the Council.
“It just so happened that this individual was a friend of the host… There was absolutely no compelling or justifiable need to identify the individual… It demonstrated a serious lack of judgment.”
Cross’s employer CKEA-FM had to air the council’s ruling once during peak station listening hours and is also mandated to air it again during a broadcast of his LockerRoom show.
The violation carries no fine, and it should be noted that two out of the seven council panel members dissented from the majority opinion that Cross had violated radio ethics codes.
All Canadian provinces put in place COVID vaccine passports last year, which unfairly excluded the vaccine-free from many aspects of normal life.
Alberta was the first province to lift its COVID vaccine passport on February 8, which was only two days before Cross’s on-air outing.
While all provincial COVID vaccine passports have now been lifted, late last year, the federal government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau put in place a mandate that in effect bans those who have chosen not to get the COVID vaccines to travel ban by air, rail, or sea.
Still in place, the travel mandate bans Canadians from flying within Canada as well as out of the country. Very few exceptions are given.
Trudeau’s vaccine mandate is being challenged in court by People’s Party of Canada leader and former MP Maxime Bernier.
The travel jab mandate has been called out by Canada’s official opposition, the Conservative Party of Canada, as “vindictive.”