With much of the Canadian news media, in particular its publicly-funded broadcaster CBC exhibiting a documented anti-Israel bias, it is notable when an outlet created by students at one of Canada’s journalism schools produces highly problematic content, where facts and allegations are mixed together.

The Review of Journalism (RJ), which calls itself “Canada’s original voice on media criticism,” is produced by journalism students at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU), formerly Ryerson University, and tells readers that it seeks to “pursue difficult stories and ask difficult questions.”

But in its recent edition, rather than truly holding the powerful accountable, in our view, it simply framed the Palestinians as the victim and Israel as the aggressor, a common (though false) and widely-utilized trope in the Canadian news media.

Click below for images of the articles:

In a June 29 article, “The Palestine Exception in film,” writer Hajir Butt – whose writing in our view has repeatedly furthered the claim that Palestinian voices are being silenced – continued that theme, exploring Palestinian films and portraying them as being part of a campaign of minimization in the media.

Throughout her article, in our opinion,Butt blurs the line between opinion and fact, referring to Israeli soldiers as “Israeli Occupation Forces,” a favoured term used by anti-Israel activists, and repeatedly matter-of-factly referring to Israel’s counter-terrorism operations in Gaza as a “genocide.” Though she notes that the war “has been deemed a genocide by many,” citing allegations by groups like Amnesty International – which has been accused of an anti-Israel fixation – she ignores rejections of that allegation by urban warfare and international law experts, who noted Israel’s extraordinary efforts at minimizing civilian casualties.

Ironically, for an outlet that purports to hold the media accountable, Butt’s article simply platformed pro-Palestinian voices instead, while overlooking facts that fly in the face of those claims. The article quotes a wide variety of predictable voices, including Radheyan Simonpillai, Dania Majid and Richie Assaly, all of whom have been outspoken in their denunciations of Israel. Meanwhile, voices who could rebut their anti-Israel talking points were conspicuously absent.

Butt writes that “there is a level of dehumanization that exists whenever Palestinians are in conversation within the media, otherwise known as the Palestine exception.” While this may very well be Butt’s opinion, she presents it as a matter of fact. In reality, pro-Palestinian narratives are widely-embraced in the Canadian news media, while Israeli voices are consistently downplayed and often ignored altogether.

In the same edition, the magazine published what it called “Fact Check: One Accuracy, Four Avenues,” written by Addie Tiller. In it, the outlet spread another claim made by pro-Palestinian activists: that the news media, through its use of passive language, was biased against them. While individuals are entitled to hold such beliefs, Tiller made no acknowledgement of gross imbalances of narratives in the Canadian news media, where Palestinian voices are given dramatically higher platforms compared to Israelis.

This is not the first time that The Review of Journalism has spread allegations that the news media favours Israel. In 2025, it pushed the claim that the media uses passive language to describe Israeli actions, though it overlooked many instances when the media did precisely the opposite, and also failed to note that it frequently used passive language for Palestinian actions, too. Rather than offer a scientific study, it appeared to rely on an anecdotal review.

At a publication dedicated to scrutinizing the media, readers should expect rigorous analysis, diverse perspectives and a commitment to evidence. Instead, this edition of The Review of Journalism reinforced a familiar anti-Israel narrative while failing to apply the same critical standards it demands of others.