On June 16, HRC brought to the attention of CBC an error that was stated that morning on CBC Radio’s World Report program where journalist Yolande Knell erroneously claimed that “… no Palestinian militant group has said it’s responsible for the disappearance of the Israelis.” You can listen to this report by clicking here.
However, as the Times of Israel reported, “an organization calling itself the “Liberators’ Battalion of Hebron” sent out a message to the press Saturday claiming it carried out the abduction of Gil-ad Shaar, 16, Naftali Frenkel, 16 and Eyal Yifrach, 19, in the Gush Etzion area near Hebron late Thursday night.”
Likewise, the Jerusalem Post noted that “On Friday, a Salafist jihadi organization called Dawlat al Islam issued a claim of responsibility for the incident, but in this case too, the credibility of the claim is unclear.” As well, the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades (aligned with Abbas’ Fatah movement) also claimed responsibility as the Times of Israel reports.
In response to our complaint, CBC broadcast the following on-air correction on June 17: “We’d like to clarify a story we brought you yesterday. In our story about three Israeli teenagers who had been abducted, we said no Palestinian group had taken responsibility. In fact, several claims of responsibility were made in recent days from small organisations, including one by a purported Al Qaeda offshoot.”
You can listen to the on-air correction here.
As well, on the June 17 broadcast of CBC Radio’s the World at Six news program, reporter Irris Makler erroneously stated the following with regard to the kidnapped Israeli teenagers: “Palestinian President Abbas has condemned both the abduction of the teenagers and the Israeli military raids. So far Hamas is keeping silent…”
You can listen to this report at the following link.
Contrary to this statement, Hamas has not been silent. In fact, the Associated Press (via the Toronto Star) reports that “Hamas has praised the kidnapping, but has not taken responsibility. In a statement Tuesday, the group said the detentions of Hamas members ‘will not stop it and it will not change its path.’”
We are pleased to note that following our intervention with the CBC, a directive was sent to CBC staff sensitizing them about the importance of being precise with their language.
