UPDATE: November 14, 2018
Subsequent to HRC’s complaint sent to CBC News at 11:16am on November 12 and the release of our media action alert, we are pleased to note that CBC Radio broadcast several reports which acknowledged that the seven dead Palestinians were all “militants”. CBC previous failed to convey this vital information which likely misled CBC listeners into thinking that the dead Palestinians were all innocent civilians.
Regrettably, a November 12 report by freelancer Irris Makler at 5:00pm wrongly identified Palestinian casualties at a funeral procession as “soldiers”, though she did also describe them as “militants” who included a “Hamas commander.”
Listen to the November 12 reports that aired at 4 and 5pm immediately below.
ORIGINAL ALERT: November 12, 2018
Yesterday evening Israel time, a gunfight erupted when undercover Israeli special forces had their cover exposed by Hamas terrorists when carrying out an intelligence gathering mission in Gaza.
In the ensuing battle, six Hamas terrorists were killed, including a senior commander of the group’s tunneling operations. The seventh Palestinian who was killed was a member of the Popular Resistance Committees according to AFP. An Israeli solider was also killed in the raid. Subsequently, Palestinian terrorists fired over 80 rockets and mortar shells at Israel, several which were intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system.
In covering the violence which many fear may put Israel and Hamas on the brink of war, CBC Radio and TV produced news reports which failed to mention that the seven dead Palestinians were all terrorists. Accordingly, CBC viewers and listeners may have come to the wrong conclusion that Israel killed seven presumably innocent Palestinian civilians.
On November 11, CBC Radio broadcast a report at 6:20pm which failed to properly identify the Palestinian casualties. CBC only attributed claims from Gaza medics and sources as saying that “six Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces.” Listen to the report by clicking here or below.
CBC Radio also aired a report from freelancer Irris Mackler at 7:06am today, November 12, where the CBC’s Anchor reported only that “Seven Palestinians were killed including a Hamas commander.” The CBC report did not disclose that the six other dead Palestinians are “terrorists” or in CBC parlance, “militants”. Listen to the report by clicking here or below.
Likewise, on CBC TV today at 7:15am, Anchor Heather Hiscox introduced a short segment which failed to identify the dead Palestinians as terrorists who were killed in the Israeli operation. A super attached to the report said: “8 killed in covert Israeli action in Gaza. Officials: 7 Palestinians, one Israeli soldier dead.” (It’s important to note that the CBC identified the dead Israeli as a “soldier,” but did not identify the dead Palestinians at all).
Anchor Heather Hiscox attributed claims to Palestinian officials as saying only that seven Palestinians are dead, including a local militant commander.
CBC viewers and listeners were not told that six of the dead Palestinians were bona fide terrorists. Accordingly, many Canadians were likely mislead into thinking that Israeli soldiers killed six presumably innocent Palestinian civilians. HonestReporting Canada contends that these reports violated the CBC’s Journalistic Standards and Practices which calls for language quality and precision in CBC reporting.
HRC has filed a complaint directly with CBC News and we also encourage you to file a complaint about our public broadcaster’s failure to identify the Palestinians as terrorists killed in the Israeli operation in Gaza, send emails to CBC Editor-in-Chief Jennifer McGuire at: Jennifer.McGuire@CBC.ca.
