Vancouver Sun columnist Miro Cernetig reacts to the decision by CTV not to broadcast the opening ceremonies of the Paralympic Games across Canada. The Canadian television network subsequently reversed itself and broadcast the ceremonies, but only in British Columbia.

Cernetig urges network executives to “rectify their unfortunate slight of the world’s Paralympians” by broadcasting the closing ceremony. Excerpts follow:

If the job is to shoot yourself in the foot, look hard-hearted and show you don’t quite get the true spirit of the Olympics, CTV’s bean-counters take the gold.

… We don’t put the Olympic cauldron on half-burn for Paralympians.

Nobody is pretending the Paralympics is a TV mega-event on the scale of the Olympics. There are no celebrity Paralympians raking in the millions or pro athletes dipping their toes into amateur sport to go for the gold.

But when it comes to stories of human tenacity, athleticism and sheer grit, most of us agree the Paralympians deserved — even for a half-hour of prime time — the national spotlight as they marched into BC Place.

Some video coverage of the Paralympic Games can be found at Paralympic Sport TV here.

(Reuters photo of the opening ceremony from the Vancouver Sun)

From the [UK] Telegraph:

An independent UK media regulator has rejected a request for sanctions against a leading television channel for using the word “retard” in a reality show, saying the comment was covered by European human rights protections of free speech.

The complaint was brought by the mother of two children with disabilities, after Vinnie Jones used the term on Channel 4 to describe Davina McCall, the host of a Big Brother offshoot program.

In explaining its decision, the UK Office of Communications (Ofcom) said the term was not directed at anyone with disabilities, and had been used light-heartedly on a reality show whose viewers “expect a certain level of outspoken banter.” Ofcom also said its own research showed that not all viewers find the word “retard” offensive, and “many do not see this as an issue.”

The decision met with criticism from the disability charity Mencap. “As someone with a learning disability, I was disgusted and hurt to hear the word ‘retard’ used on Big Brother,” said Mencap spokesman Lloyd Page. “We will never change people’s attitudes if this sort of thing carries on. I hope Ofcom will realize why we want this to stop.”

Related posts here.

Company sees threat to free speech on the Internet

From Reuters/New York Times, AP/Forbes.com, CNN:

A judge in Milan has found three Google executives guilty of criminal privacy violation charges for allowing a cellphone video of the bullying of an Italian youth to be displayed on a company website in 2006.

Press reports said the video showed the boy, described as having Down syndrome or autism, being taunted by classmates while one of the teens made a mock phone call to a Down syndrome support group.

A Google spokesman said the company would appeal what it called an “astonishing” decision, and said the case posed a threat to freedom of speech on the Internet.

Prosecutors said the case was not about censorship, but about balancing freedom of expression with the rights of an individual. They said the video remained online for months even though some web users had posted comments asking that it be taken down. Google said it removed the video within hours of being notified by police.

The three defendants received six-month suspended sentences for privacy violation. They were acquitted of charges of defamation, as was a fourth executive. All had denied wrongdoing. In an earlier action in juvenile court, the four bullies were sentenced to community service.

A number of readers have asked where they can write with complaints about Rush Limbaugh’s repeated use of the word “retard” on his national radio broadcast last week. (The full transcript is here.)

Here are some possibilities: You may contact the company that syndicates the program; the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which grants permission for the show to be heard on the nation’s airwaves; or the show itself.

The company that syndicates the program is Premiere Radio Networks, Inc., which is a subsidiary of Clear Channel Communications. Clear Channel’s corporate headquarters is listed as:

Clear Channel
200 East Basse Road
San Antonio, TX 78209
Phone: 1-210-822-2828
Contact info for president and CEO Mark P. Mays:
MarkPMays@clearchannel.com

The Federal Communications Commission’s chairman is Julius Genachowski. You can email him by clicking here, and file a complaint here.

The Rush Limbaugh Show can be contacted as follows:

Phone: 800-282-2882
E-mail: elrushbo@eibnet.com
Fax: 212-445-3963

Or write to:
The Rush Limbaugh Show
1270 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020

(Many thanks to Laurie for the Limbaugh contact info!)

UPDATE. A reader writes with another suggestion: Contact Limbaugh’s advertisers.

Here’s the text of Tim Shriver’s letter inviting Rush Limbaugh to join the campaign to end the use of the words “retard” and “retarded” as epithets. The letter from the Special Olympics chairman follows a national radio broadcast in which Limbaugh repeatedly used the word “retard”, and referred to the President’s meeting with disability advocates as a “retard summit.” An excerpt:

People with intellectual disabilities – the largest group of people with disabilities in the world – have suffered generations of discrimination and humiliation. In the 21st century, they, together with their families and friends, are continuing their battle for the simplest form of justice: the justice that comes with a recognition of their full humanity. In their eyes and in the hearts of millions of others who love and care about them, language is important. So together, we have chosen to try to sensitize others to the pervasive but often ignored prejudice they suffer by asking for a change of language and a change of heart.

For you or for anyone else to mock those who strive, often against long odds, for the recognition and respect they deserve, seems gratuitously hurtful and degrading.

In the HuffingtonPost, Liane Kupferberg Carter is infuriated by the widespread use of the word “retard” as an insult. Just as bad, she says, are jokes that use people with disabilities as the punchline.  Among her evidence: White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel was quoted using the phrase “f–ing retarded,” and columnist Thomas Friedman said on CNN that American involvement in Afghanistan is like “an unemployed couple who just went out and decided to adopt a special needs baby.”

An excerpt:

I am not the first to write about this, and I won’t be the last, either. I’m not trying to be the word police. And I know that if we banish this word from everyone’s vocabulary, something equally noxious will probably take its place. But the malice behind this word is palpable and ugly and heart constricting. Do you think kids with intellectual disabilities don’t know they are being put down when someone calls them that word? That they don’t feel the insult and disdain?

The R word has been retired by medical and social service organizations. It’s time everyone else does too. This isn’t about political correctness. I am asking for no less than a basic cultural shift. People need to understand that the ‘R-word’ is as offensive to persons with intellectual disabilities as the ‘N-word’ is to the African American community.

From the Baltimore Sun:

Zarifa Roberson couldn’t find a magazine aimed at people who have disabilities, so she decided to start one herself. The result is “i.d.e.a.l.,” an acronym that stands for “Individuals with Disabilities Express About Life.”

“Talking with young people with disabilities is kind of disheartening because they don’t know what to do with their lives,” she says. “Not everyone can be the next Stevie Wonder. This is why I started the publication.”