On December 10 and 11, Global News produced three news reports which reflected substandard journalistic standards and practices in their reporting on the war between Israel and Hamas.

One report, by Digital Broadcast Journalist Amber Fryday on December 11 entitled: “Halifax businesses close doors to join call for ceasefire in Gaza,” reported on a small number of Haligonians who closed their doors on that day in protest of Israel’s war against Hamas, as part of a larger global campaign. In her report, Fryday quoted multiple anti-Israel campaigners, while providing zero context, pushback or challenge to any of them.

One subject interviewed by Fryday, local business owner Zahraa Al-Ali of Rumi Coffee Company, told Global News that “this has been going on for 75 years,” referring to Israel’s rebirth in 1948 as the source of ongoing war. Yet Fryday failed to share the meaning and consequence of Al-Ali’s “75 years” comment, namely that it effectively delegitimizes Israel’s very right to exist.

The same day, another report was produced by Daniele Hamamdjian entitled: “Amid bloodshed in Gaza, Israeli settler violence surges in West Bank,” which documented violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in Judea & Samaria “West Bank”. And while such violence is unquestionably abhorrent and worthy of condemnation, Hamamdjian blurred the line between violence against Palestinian civilians, and Israeli counter-terrorism operations against Palestinian combatants.

Hamamdjian told viewers that “harassment is part of everyday life” for Palestinians in the territory, and that “in the past two months, the Palestinian death toll across the West Bank has surged.” However, Hamamdjian did not disclose how many of these Palestinian deaths have been of combatants engaged in fighting with Israeli forces, rather than innocent Palestinians. Failing to point out this enormous difference falsely suggests that all Palestinians killed over the last two months fall into this latter category.

In fact, the exact opposite appears to be the case. According to an Associated Press report in late October, most Palestinians who had been killed in Judea & Samaria/West Bank had died “mainly in clashes with Israeli troops,” suggesting that they were engaged in active combat and could not reasonably be construed as being innocent civilians.

In yet another Global News report from December 11 entitled: “‘Palestine will cease to exist’: Israel accused of pushing Gazans into Egypt,” journalist Crystal Goomansingh reported on allegations that Israel is intentionally attempting to drive Gaza’s population into Egypt’s Sinai peninsula.

While Goomansingh provided no evidence that such a campaign is underway, and reported that Israel flatly denied it is carrying out such an operation, the fact that such an allegation was given the platform of a dedicated news report automatically provided it with significant cachet and credibility.

In late October, Goomansingh was the subject of another HonestReporting Canada alert, including her giving an uncritical platform to senior Hamas leader Ghazi Hamad, where he denied that the terror group intentionally targeted civilians, a blatant lie disproven by the widespread presence of video cameras by Hamas terrorists on October 7, showing them intentionally targeting innocent civilians in Israel.

These three reports by Global News represent more than just minor errors, but rather significant lapses in journalistic standards and a failure to provide a comprehensive picture to viewers.