The CRTC last week quietly proposed a significant change to the rules on false or misleading news broadcasts on radio or television.  The law currently provides that a broadcast licensee “shall not broadcast any false or misleading news.”  The CRTC is proposing to amend the law with respect to television and radio by lowering the standard to “any news that the licensee knows is false or misleading and that endangers or is likely to endanger the lives, health or safety of the public.”  In other words, it would perfectly permissible for a broadcaster to air false or misleading news, provided that it not endanger the lives, health or safety of the public.

If enacted, the changes would move the Canadian broadcast framework closer to that found in the U.S.  The Federal Communications Commission has a limited rule against broadcast hoaxes that provides:

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