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And Finally
Canadian Council stand by ‘Money For Nothing’ ban
By CMU Editorial | Published on Monday 17 January 2011
The chair of the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council has stood by his body’s decision to ban radio stations in Canada from playing Dire Straits song ‘Money For Nothing’ because it’s lyrics contain the word “faggot” three times. As previously reported, the Council investigated and then banned the song after one listener complained about the use of the “f” word on the track when it was played on a radio station in Newfoundland.
Various people, including Dire Straits keyboardist Guy Fletcher and the Operations Manager of one Canadian radio station that decided to play the track back to back for an hour in protest last week, have criticised the ruling, partly because it was made after just one complaint, and partly because it ignores the point of the song, which is mocking the character speaking through the lyrics.
When announcing his intent to programme the song on a loop for an hour last week, K-97 Operations Manager Patrick Cardinal told reporters: “If you look at the context of the term, it’s an artistic portrayal of a bigoted person looking at the riches of the music industry. Our listeners absolutely support our right to play the song. If we get a CBSC complaint about it, we will vigilantly defend our right to play it”.
But the CBSC’s Ronald Cohen has defended his organisation’s decision, telling the QMI Agency this weekend: “The number of complaints is irrelevant. Everybody is on our back about it [but] I think it was absolutely the right decision. This was a word that has no place today on the airwaves”.
Presumably Canadian stations are free to play edited versions of the Dire Straits record, which do exist because this isn’t the first time the use of the word “faggot” has ruffled feathers, though some reckon some stations will ignore the ban, testing the power of the Council which, although recognised by Canada’s broadcasting regulator the CRTC, isn’t in itself a statutory body.
