Summary: This is a documentary that aired on CBC Radio's "The Current". Weighing the Balance evolved from a simple question: what happened to the men who were named and shamed in a very public news conference staged by the Toronto Police. Six men, their ages and places of residence were named as people who had purchased child pornography.
This stunning piece is difficult but essential listening. It is as unflinching a piece of radio as I’ve ever heard – the producer watches a segment from a child pornography film while a police man explains what’s happening on screen. The segment reminds us again what exactly child pornography is all about – the torture of young children who have no defences at all. As a mother, my first instinct was to hit the off button immediately, but I didn’t because every side in an argument deserves a fair hearing which is exactly what this programme is trying to say.
The piece is not in any shape or form a defence of child pornographers –. But it does point out the emotional shrapnel from vigilante type naming and shaming. An accused man never manages to piece his life together after he has been publicly named. His family, obviously still broken by his suicide are convinced of his innocence. The law vindicated him but society didn’t. Listeners are left to make up their own mind. This programme gives us the other almost never aired side of a very difficult issue. Superb radio.
Comments for Weighing the Balance
This piece belongs to the series "CBC Radio's Outfront"
Produced by Kellie Hudson, Dick Miller and Mike Bryan
Other pieces by Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
Rating Summary
1 comment
Dheera Sujan
Posted on October 17, 2005 at 08:31 AM | Permalink
Review of Weighing the Balance
This stunning piece is difficult but essential listening. It is as unflinching a piece of radio as I’ve ever heard – the producer watches a segment from a child pornography film while a police man explains what’s happening on screen. The segment reminds us again what exactly child pornography is all about – the torture of young children who have no defences at all. As a mother, my first instinct was to hit the off button immediately, but I didn’t because every side in an argument deserves a fair hearing which is exactly what this programme is trying to say.
The piece is not in any shape or form a defence of child pornographers –. But it does point out the emotional shrapnel from vigilante type naming and shaming. An accused man never manages to piece his life together after he has been publicly named. His family, obviously still broken by his suicide are convinced of his innocence. The law vindicated him but society didn’t. Listeners are left to make up their own mind. This programme gives us the other almost never aired side of a very difficult issue. Superb radio.