CBC News has defended an internal memo telling reporters and editors not to describe the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks as “terrorist attacks,” saying the guidance reflects its longstanding practice of attributing politically and emotionally loaded terms rather than applying them independently.
CBC Public Affairs Director Kerry Kelly told Fox News Digital that the network “exercise[s] extreme caution before using the words ‘terrorist’ and ‘terrorism.’” She said the memo was “a reminder of the longstanding practice that favors the use of these terms with attribution in our reporting.”
The memo, written by Basem Boshra, CBC News’ senior director of journalistic standards and public trust, surfaced ahead of the attacks’ 25th anniversary. Toronto Sun columnist Warren Kinsella first reported it and said it was addressed to CBC News staff.
Critics condemned the language. New York City Councilwoman Vickie Paladino called the guidance “outrageous and insulting” and said it showed “callous disregard for the memory of those who perished on 9/11” and a “deliberate effort to undermine the fundamental truth of what happened that day.”
Conservative Canadian MP Rachael Thomas called it “absolutely shameful,” saying CBC was “choosing to redefine terrorism in a way that downplays the atrocity of 9/11” and that “9/11 was an act of terrorism. Full stop.”
The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs said describing the attacks as “hijackings that led to crashes” sanitized history and marked a “collapse of journalistic standards.”