On December 3, CBC journalist Margaret Evans filed a story from Nabatiyeh, in southern Lebanon, lamenting the destruction caused by what she termed the “Israeli bombing campaign.”
In her report entitled: “Lebanese look to rebuild in Nabatiyeh amid fears of truce collapse,” she walked through the streets of the city, decrying the fact that most residents had to flee during the “fighting,” failing to mention that much of northern Israel has seen its population internally displaced for the past year due to Hezbollah bombing – the very reason for the Israeli strikes in the first place. Not to mention the immense destruction caused to Israeli cities due to constant bombardment by Hezbollah rockets, missiles, drones and UAV’s.
Click to watch the full segment below:
As she dramatically recounted a poor man’s childhood home being destroyed, she asked her cameraman to pan around to take a shot of the rubble. Flying proudly atop it – the Hezbollah flag. Evans was, apparently, sympathetic with the losses suffered in Lebanon, but ignored how a majority of casualties were from the Hezbollah terror group, and her sympathies were most certainly not with innocent Jewish civilians across the border who were bombarded by the terror group since October, 2023.
One might think that a news report attempting to paint the Lebanese people as the innocent victims of Israeli aggression might have the good sense to not display the proudly flying terrorist group paraphernalia before filming. Evans did not tell viewers that the yellow and green flag is a Hezbollah symbol.
As she walked on, Evans related that it’s estimated by the World Bank that it will cost Lebanon “12 billion dollars to rebuild the entire country.”
For context, 12 billion dollars USD is a lot less than it may seem; it is about the size of Toronto’s annual budget. Secondly, the “entire country” has not been impacted by Israeli strikes, which have been limited to areas of Hezbollah strongholds (as evidenced by the flag seen in Evans’ report).
Evans related that the mayor of Nabatiyeh and many of its city council members were killed by an airstrike, citing this as the reason that rebuilding will be difficult. Bafflingly, she didn’t seem to make the connection to the targeted strikes against Hezbollah members, the obvious Hezbollah presence proudly displayed in town, and their deaths.
Finally, as she was wrapping up her story, after sharing how the people here have “nothing left” and that Lebanon was already at “the edge of economic collapse,” two luxury German cars drove past – one a Mercedes, the other a BMW.
One could be excused for thinking this entire report was satire at this point, but it’s well in keeping with the kind of one-sided reporting often filed by Evans. In another report the same day, she referred to Hezbollah as a “social and political movement,” and blamed Israel for breaking ceasefire agreements (while at the same time acknowledging that Hezbollah operatives remain too close to the Israeli border).
Click to watch the full segment below:
Her biased reporting on the Israeli-Arab conflict has been noted many times on by HonestReporting Canada, where she regularly whitewashes Palestinian violence, promotes Hezbollah talking points, and just generally discusses anything to do with Israel in incredibly one-sided terms.
Reports like this, which downplay Hezbollah’s actions. are incredibly dangerous and in our view, violate the CBC’s Journalistic Standards and Practices.
