Along with scores of Canadian news media outlets covering the major breaking news, a January 15 news report by Global National covered the just-announced ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel. As with many other reports, the Global broadcast gave extended coverage to unverified Palestinian claims and failed to provide important context to viewers.

The report entitled: “What’s next after Israel, Hamas agree to Gaza ceasefire deal?” opened with host Dawna Friesen referring to the “relentless attacks by Israel’s military” in Gaza, and saying that “the war (has) killed tens of thousands of Palestinians, decimated their homes and left them with next to nothing,” alongside extended footage from Gaza.

Click to watch the full segment below:

This extraordinary language was contrasted by the host’s statement that families of Israeli hostages are in “agony,” hardly a comparable adjective.

Following a brief broadcast outlining the details of the ceasefire agreement by reporter Mike Armstrong, Friesen continued by stating that “the death toll in Gaza since the October 7th attacks is staggering. The UN estimates more than 46,000 Palestinians, civilians and combatants, have been killed in Gaza.”

While this is a rare instance of acknowledging that the death toll claims from Gaza do not distinguish between civilians and combatants, the seeming editorialization with the word “staggering” was not used in reference to Israeli victims of Hamas’ indescribable brutality.

While Gaza’s suffering is given full colour and powerful adjectives, Israeli suffering is stated more matter-of-factly.

However, the next statement was arguably the most problematic. The Global National host said that “journalists in Gaza have paid a high price, too. The Committee to Protect Journalists said at least 165 reports and media workers have been killed too, and it is now calling on authorities to immediately allow foreign journalists into Gaza…and to independently investigate the deliberate targeting of journalists that has been widely documented since October 2023.”

It is unclear what part of that statement is the view of CPJ, and which is the view of Global News. While it is true that CPJ has alleged journalists have died in Gaza, those claims have been extensively critiqued, with at least one investigation noting that many of the alleged journalists were not really journalists at all, a point ignored in the broadcast and many took part in terrorist activities.

But it is Friesen’s nonchalant statement that the supposed “deliberate targeting of journalists” has been “widely documented” is worded in a way that it is unclear whether it is CPJ making that allegation, or Global News making that comment as if it were true. Either way, that allegation is highly disputed, with many of the world’s top experts in urban warfare having pointed out that Israel has taken extensive, perhaps even unprecedented, steps to minimize civilian casualties in Gaza, even as Hamas actively has sought to embed itself within the enclave’s civilian population and infrastructure.

The evening’s broadcast ended by profiling a Gazan man who is living in Halifax, and interviewing him and his relatives there. Although nothing objectionable was said in the report, the selectivity of focusing on Gazans fleeing war, rather than Israelis as well, was notable. While absolute balance is certainly impossible, the last 15 months of the Hamas-Israel war has produced countless examples of an overwhelming imbalance for which there is no excuse.

The January 15 episode of Global News’ flagship evening program Global National was not egregious in its reporting, but nevertheless gave both unequal and, in the case of CPJ’s allegations, undeserved weight to allegations against Israel, while failing to provide necessary context for viewers.