Canadas CBC instructs staff not to call 9/11 a terrorist attack in news coverage

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation instructed its staff not to refer to the killings on 9/11 as “terrorist attacks” ahead of its coverage of the 25th anniversary, according to an internal memo.The public broadcaster reaffirmed that it would avoid using words like “terrorist” and “terrorism” when describing events, directing its staffers to follow the longstanding company policy that previously landed them in hot water during their Oct.7, 2023, coverage.

“Do not refer to the Sept.11 attacks as terrorist attacks,” the memo read.

“The hijackings led to passenger jet crashes in Washington, D.C., Pennsylvania and Manhattan.The World Trade Center (WTC in second reference) was destroyed.”The memo was signed, “BB,” which the Toronto Sun, which first published the letter, identified as Basem Boshra, senior director of journalistic standards and public Trust at CBC News.

CBC defended the memo as a reminder to its journalists to adhere to the decades-old practice, claiming that using charged phrases like “terrorist attacks” would diminish their ability to remain impartial.“Our focus is to report the facts of such atrocities with accuracy, clarity and detail; to convey the scale and scope of violent acts wherever they occur; to quote the people affected, and to convey the views of officials and experts on these events.We bear witness,” Kerry Kelly, a public affairs spokesperson for CBC, told The Post.

“But CBC News does not itself designate specific groups as terrorists, or specific acts as terrorism, regardless of the region or the events, because these words are so loaded with meaning, politics and emotion that they can end up being impediments to our journalism.” Much like Reuters, CBC only uses the terms when quoting others who are describing events.Rachel Thomas, a Conservative MP, slammed the leaked memo as shameful, accusing the policy of downplaying the terror attacks.

“Refusing to call it an act of terrorism dishonours th...