{"id":7554,"date":"2026-08-27T18:40:08","date_gmt":"2026-08-27T18:40:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=7554"},"modified":"2026-08-27T18:40:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T18:40:08","slug":"canadas-cbc-instructs-staff-not-to-call-9-11-a-terrorist-attack-in-news-coverage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=7554","title":{"rendered":"Canada’s CBC instructs staff not to call 9\/11 a ‘terrorist attack’ in news coverage"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation instructed its staff not to refer to the killings on 9\/11 as \u201cterrorist attacks\u201d ahead of its coverage of the 25th anniversary, according to an internal memo.<\/p>\n

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The public broadcaster reaffirmed that it would avoid using words like \u201cterrorist\u201d and \u201cterrorism\u201d 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. <\/p>\n

\u201cDo not refer to the Sept. 11 attacks as terrorist attacks,\u201d the memo read. \u201cThe hijackings led to passenger jet crashes in Washington, D.C., Pennsylvania and Manhattan. The World Trade Center (WTC in second reference) was destroyed.\u201d<\/p>\n

The memo was signed, \u201cBB,\u201d which the Toronto Sun, which first published the letter, identified as Basem Boshra, senior director of journalistic standards and public Trust at CBC News. <\/p>\n

CBC defended the memo as a reminder to its journalists to adhere to the decades-old practice, claiming that using charged phrases like \u201cterrorist attacks\u201d would diminish their ability to remain impartial.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur 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,\u201d Kerry Kelly, a public affairs spokesperson for CBC, told The Post. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut 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.\u201d <\/p>\n

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Much like Reuters, CBC only uses the terms when quoting others who are describing events \u2014 despite even Osama bin Laden, who approved and funded the attacks, describing it as \u201cblessed terror.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201c[The West] condemns terror. We say our terror against America is blessed terror,\u201d he stated in a videotape released in December 2001, according to reports at the time.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

Rachel Thomas, a Conservative MP, slammed the leaked memo as shameful, accusing the policy of downplaying the terror attacks. <\/p>\n

\u201cRefusing to call it an act of terrorism dishonours the victims, their families, the survivors, and the first responders who witnessed the horrors of that day,\u201d\u00a0she wrote on X.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrying to sanitize or rewrite that history is deeply offensive and does a disservice to everyone who was affected by the attacks.\u201d<\/p>\n

The public broadcaster had previously come under fire over the same policy in the wake of the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack in Israel, where Conservative MPs demanded answers for CBC\u2019s coverage. <\/p>\n

Read more The good news and bad news about NYC water: Post test uncovers what\u2019s bubbling from City Hall fountain<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation instructed its staff not to refer to the killings in 9\/11 as “terrorist attacks” ahead of their coverage of its 25th anniversary, according to an internal memo.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7553,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7554","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-media"],"yoast_head":"\nCanada's CBC instructs staff not to call 9\/11 a 'terrorist attack' in news coverage - Metro Transit Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=7554\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Canada's CBC instructs staff not to call 9\/11 a 'terrorist attack' in news coverage - 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