by Patrick B. Craine
BURLINGTON, Ontario, February 2, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A major Christian television station in Canada has permanently canceled the show Word TV, hosted by prominent evangelical minister Charles McVety, after an industry watchdog announced in December their judgment that the show discriminated against homosexuals.
Viewers tuning in to Crossroads Television System (CTS TV) for the show Sunday night found instead a notice of cancellation. The Christian broadcaster had taken McVety’s show off the air temporarily in December after the Canadian Broadcasting Standards Council (CBSC) decision, but reinstated it a week later with the episodes pre-screened.
McVety alleged in a press release this week that CTS has “bowed to the censors” at the CBSC. “The council threatened the television station,” he told Postmedia News. “So, in order to protect their own interests, the station censored heavily, then just got rid of us, altogether.”
The pastor, who was unavailable for comment, said that before canceling the show the station had rejected three episodes “for frivolous reasons.” “I don’t know how they want me to talk,” he said. “I thought I lived in a free democratic country and that political censorship was reserved for totalitarian regimes.”
But CTS, known for such popular Christian programs as 100 Huntley Street and The Michael Coren Show, dismissed the charge in a Monday statement. “The fact is that Word TV failed to keep its agreement to comply with the CTS Code of Ethics and indicated a refusal to comply in the future,” it read. “Unfortunately, numerous attempts by CTS to work with Dr. McVety were unsuccessful.”
Asked how McVety’s show violated their code of ethics, CTS spokeswoman Carolyn Innis told LifeSiteNews that it was “a private matter between broadcaster and show producer.”
Pressed further about whether their code of ethics allows for controversial Christian opinion on homosexuality, Innis said the station “does not dictate content,” but does have “guidelines surrounding how the content is presented.”
“Dialogue on these issues is important, and CTS will certainly broadcast content that is considered contentious, but it must be presented within a fair, factual, and balanced framework,” she explained.
The CBSC panel had rebuked McVety for claiming that the homosexual movement is driven by a “conspiratorial” agenda, suggesting homosexuals prey on children, and labeling the annual Pride events “sex parades.”
They said McVety was “utterly wrong” to claim that Ontario’s failed sex ed curriculum, which was pulled last April after an outcry from parents, was meant to “teach” homosexuality. Instead, they said, “the proposed curricular revisions are intended to teach tolerance.”
They also objected to his statement on the show that homosexual activists seek to indoctrinate children “because unfortunately they have an insatiable appetite for sex, especially with young people.”
McVety called the decision a “gross breach of democracy,” insisting that he had not been included in the panel’s investigation and was refused an opportunity to appeal.
Contact information:
Crossroads Television Systems
1295 North Service Road
Burlington, Ontario, L7R 4X5
Phone: (905) 331-7333
Fax: (905) 332-6005
E-mail: contactus@ctstv.com
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