CBC tells Canadian journalists not to call 9/11 a terrorist attack

The same policy prompted criticism of the public broadcaster following the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack in Israel.

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

CBC News will maintain its policy of not independently labeling the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks as terrorism during coverage of the 25th anniversary, a decision that has drawn criticism from Conservative MP Rachel Thomas after the broadcaster circulated new guidance to its journalists.

An internal memo published by the Toronto Sun reminded employees that CBC avoids describing either specific acts as terrorism or organizations as terrorist groups unless attributing the terminology to others.

The same policy prompted criticism of the public broadcaster following the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack in Israel.

The guidance specifically addressed how journalists should characterize 9/11.

“Do not refer to the Sept. 11 attacks as terrorist attacks,” it said. “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 Toronto Sun identified Basem Boshra, senior director of journalistic standards and public Trust at CBC News, as the author of the memo, which was signed “BB.”

CBC public affairs spokesperson Kerry Kelly defended the policy to the New York Post, saying the broadcaster seeks to provide detailed factual accounts while avoiding terminology that could interfere with impartial reporting.

“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,” Kelly said.

The policy permits journalists to use the terminology when quoting or attributing it to others. Osama bin Laden, who approved and funded the Sept. 11 attacks, used the word himself in a videotape released in December 2001.

“[The West] condemns terror. We say our terror against America is blessed terror,” bin Laden said.

Thomas accused CBC of diminishing the nature of the attacks by refusing to characterize them as terrorism.

“Refusing 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,” she wrote on X.

Conservative MPs previously demanded answers from CBC over application of the same terminology policy in its coverage following the Oct. 7 attack in Israel.