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.”
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