Terrorism must not be labeled according to a double standard! What applies to 9/11 must also apply to Oct. 7!
CBC News recently revised its guidelines to allow the Sept. 11 attacks to be described as terrorism without attribution. However, the broadcaster has yet to apply the same standard to the deadliest attack in Israel’s history.
After investigative journalist Warren Kinsella shared an internal Canadian Broadcasting Corporation memo instructing staff not to describe the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks as terrorism without attribution, the policy drew widespread criticism, media watchdog HonestReporting Canada reported.
CBC News subsequently revised its guidance. On Aug. 28, Basem Boshra, senior director of journalistic standards and public trust, wrote that “direct attribution is not required for describing the historic events of 9/11 as terrorism.”
However, HRC noted, no such revision was issued for the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack in southern Israel, carried out by Hamas. Approximately 1,200 people were massacred, and 251 were taken hostage to Gaza.
In late 2023, according to HRC, CBC’s then-ombudsman, Jack Nagler, conceded that “using almost any credible definition,” the actions of Palestinians on October 7 were, in fact, terrorism, adding that “if CBC were to describe events of that day as an act of terrorism, it would be an accurate description.”
Despite that change in CBC’s policy on describing the 9/11 attacks, CBC News still refrains from applying the terrorist label to Palestinian terrorists — an approach that obscures the character of both the Oct. 7 attack and terrorist organizations such as Hamas and Hezbollah, whose actions have included deliberate attacks on Israeli civilians and whose stated objectives include Israel’s destruction.
“When CBC News, with its extensive network across Canada, refuses to call a spade a spade, it helps to create an atmosphere where truth is subjective,” HRC stated.
Demand that CBC News report the facts clearly and accurately. The public deserves the truth — and CBC must be held accountable when it fails to provide it.
Email Maxime Bertrand, the CBC ombudsman, at ombud@cbc.ca
Suggested text:
CBC News recently took a welcome step by dropping its requirement that the Sept. 11 attacks be described as terrorism only with attribution. Yet its continued reluctance to use the term “terrorism” when reporting on Palestinian terrorists raises concerns about a troubling double standard. If CBC can identify 9/11 as terrorism without attribution, the same standard must apply to terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians, including the Oct. 7 massacre.
I respectfully request that Canada’s public broadcasting company report the facts clearly and accurately, with no bias or double standard. Canadians deserve to know the truth, and certainly, the victims of terrorism deserve nothing less than an honest and accurate account of what happened to them.
Respectfully,
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