After investigative journalist Warren Kinsella shared an internal memorandum from Basem Boshra, senior director of journalistic standards and public trust at CBC News, which instructed editorial staff to avoid referring to the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States as acts of terrorism unless specifically attributed, the response was immediate.
From global condemnation and mockery – including suggestions from the FBI that appeared to suggest consequences for intelligence-sharing with Canada – CBC News has walked back its policy.
On August 28, Boshra responded on CBC News’ Editor Blog with an entry, “How and why CBC News will adjust its 9/11 language guidance,” where he acknowledged that the publicly-funded broadcaster’s new policy dictates that “direct attribution is not required for describing the historic events of 9/11 as terrorism.”
Unsurprisingly, at least one prominent anti-Israel group took umbrage at referring to 9/11 as terrorism, with Jason Toney of the pressure group Canadians for Justice & Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) taking to social media to share that he would be filing a complaint with CBC’s ombudsman.
One Standard for 9/11. Another for October 7?
While CBC News’ new policy is as sensible as it is overdue, it reeks of inconsistency. In the hours after the Palestinian terrorist attacks on October 7, 2023, George Achi, who was Bassem Boshra’s predecessor, sent a memorandum to staff similarly instructing them not to call the wanton massacres of Israeli civilians terrorism, unless it was attributed. Even with attribution, he wrote, “we should add context to ensure the audience understands this is opinion, not fact.”
In late 2023, even CBC’s then-ombudsman Jack Nagler conceded that “using almost any credible definition,” the actions of Palestinians on October 7 was, 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.”
Yet CBC News has continued to avoid referring to Palestinian terrorists as such, and in so doing, fundamentally misrepresenting the true nature, not just of October 7, but of groups like Hamas, Hezbollah and others, which make no secret of their targeting of Israeli civilians and their stated goal of destroying Israel.
Sanitizing Terrorism Has Consequences
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. In early November, 2023, a group of lawyers and law students signed an open letter where they defended the idea that the mass murder of 1,200 innocents on October 7 could be somehow “contextualized.”
Concurrently, a group of 74 students at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU)’s law school signed an open letter declaring their support for “all forms” of Palestinian resistance.
Israeli Victims Deserve the Same Journalistic Clarity
It is indefensible that any news media outlet in Canada refuse to call Palestinian terrorism as such, and is particularly egregious when that failure is official policy from Canada’s publicly-funded broadcaster.
Now that CBC News has belatedly done the right thing and characterized the September 11 terror attacks as terrorism, it is time that they apply those exact same principles to Palestinian terrorism, as well. If not, it has a duty to explain why murdered Israel civilians are not considered to be victims of terrorism.
