CANADIAN RADIO STATIONS can now play the Dire Straits song Money For Nothing – reversing an earlier ban on its full broadcast.
The original version of the song, which was released in 1985, was banned in January 2011 from broadcast on Canadian airwaves.
The banning occurred after a person noticed the word ‘faggot’ in the lyrics while listening to the song being played on CHOZ-FM in Newfoundland.
They objected to the lyrics and wrote to the Canadian Broadcasting Standards Council saying:
I am aware of the other versions of the song, in which the word was replaced with another, and yet OZ FM chose to play and not censor this particular version that I am complaining about.
I find this extremely offensive as a member of the LGBT community and feel that there is absolutely no valid reason for such discriminatory marks to be played on air.
The station responded and said that the song “is regarded by many as an historically successful and essential hit in that form with these particular lyrics”.
The Atlantic Regional Panel found the complaint justified and said that CHOZ-FM had breached clause 2 of the CAB Code of Ethics and clauses 2, 7 and 9 of the Equitable Portrayal Code.
However the CRTC received around 250 letters following the banning that said that it had made “an incorrect decision” and many that asked the Commission “to take corrective action”.
Submissions from the public were requested and an ad hoc National Panel read these, read the original correspondence and listened to the broadcast.
They decided that the use of the word ‘faggot’ remains inappropriate for broadcast on Canadian radio.
However they also decided that for “reasons related to contextual considerations” the broadcast of the original song is acceptable.
They did uphold that it was a word that was not acceptable and that they had received emails thanking them for stating this in the original decision.
It was also taken into account the circumstances in which Knopfler wrote the song, and the fact he said that they were recorded verbatim as he listened to a man working in a store in New York City.
The majority of the National Panel is, in other words, of the view that the story told in this song, developed at some length over more than eight minutes, provides sufficient plot development, story line and context to justify the application of the legitimate artistic usage exception
It was decided that the song could be broadcast, but:
Out of sensitivity to listeners, it would make sense to the Panel that the inoffensive version of the song be the one chosen for broadcast when there is a risk that some, or many, members of the audience might be offended by the use of the other f-word.
The Montreal Gazette reports that one station received support in their campaign to play the uncensored song.
And Robb MacKay, music lecturer at Queen’s University, said that it was good a conversation was being started about offensive words in popular music.
