Clément Sabourin -
After a shooting rampage at a Quebec City mosque, the Canadian province’s popular conservative talk radio hosts have come under fire for allegedly spreading intolerance and hate.
Critics say the talk shows fuel a divisive climate that allows extreme ideologies to take root and flourish — a charge that has taken on heightened relevance after a gunman with far-right sympathies opened fire on worshippers, killing six and wounding eight more.
While not pointing a finger at any specific person or organisation, Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard emphasised that “words do matter.”
Residents of Quebec City tend to vote more conservatively than the rest of the province. Some say that radio stations like local FM93 and Radio X — which are respectively the region’s second and third-most listened to, with a combined 30 per cent market share — simply reflect their audience’s views. But others say the shows stoke dangerous beliefs.
“These are right-wing talk radio stations with little substance but a lot of opinions,” said Stephane Leman-Langlois, a criminologist at Laval University, where the alleged shooter studied.
These “trash radio” stations, as they have become known locally, “contribute to legitimise increasingly adversarial discourse against minorities in general and Muslims in particular,” he said.
Leman-Langlois said they tout “white supremacy, white victimology and repeat over and over that Quebec is in grave danger.”
But Sylvain Bouchard, a host on FM93, said, “We must fight disinformation, and we failed to do this enough.” There is no indication the suspect arrested in connection to the attack at the Quebec City mosque on Sunday listened to these radio stations. His online activities, however, suggest that he supports far-right political leaders.
Calls have also increased to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications agency, which regulates the industry, to take a hard line. The CRTC has at times warned radio stations, and some hosts have been sued for defamation, but the stations themselves keep broadcasting.
Since the mosque shooting, these radio stations have said they deplore violence. But on Tuesday morning, Radio X’s broadcast quickly degenerated, decrying that the far-right’s political agenda had come under siege from the left.
The host accused “leftists of rejoicing” over the opportunity to use the attack to thrash conservatives’ views. — AFP
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