Case Comment: Burnett v. C.B.C. & Maclntyre

The combinations and permutations available to an audio-visual type of presentation are endless. How, then, should the established legal principles which have stood the test of time respond to a broadcast...? Are they appropriate or adequate or must we now develop modifications or even entirely new principles to be fair to all sides? - Miller J., in Lougheed v. C.B. C. (1978), 4 C.C.L.T. 287 (Alta.S.C., T.D.), at 297. The Burnett cases\u27 had their origin in an episode of the Maclntyre File , a public affairs programme produced by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (C.B.C.) and narrated by host Linden MacIntyre (MacIntyre). The epidsode in question was broadcast to the three Maritime provinces by the defendant corporation on 22 September 1978