Canada’s public broadcaster is directing journalists not to describe the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks as “terrorist attacks” unless the label is attributed to someone else, Fox News reported Thursday.
An internal memo from Basem Boshra, CBC News senior director of journalistic standards, said, “Do not refer to the Sept. 11 attacks as terrorist attacks,” according to Toronto Sun columnist Warren Kinsella, who first published the guidance ahead of the attacks’ 25th anniversary. The memo described the events as hijackings that led to jet crashes in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.
CBC Public Affairs Director Kerry Kelly told Fox News Digital the memo was “a reminder of the longstanding practice that favours the use of these terms with attribution.”
She said CBC exercises “extreme caution” with the words “terrorist” and “terrorism.” A 2023 note from CBC editor-in-chief Brodie Fenlon, cited by Fox, said the network does not independently designate acts as terrorism because the words are “loaded with meaning, politics and emotion.”
Critics in Canada and the United States condemned the language. Conservative MP Rachael Thomas called it “absolutely shameful” on X. New York City Councilwoman Vickie Paladino told Fox the guidance was “outrageous and insulting.” The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs said calling 9/11 “hijackings that led to crashes” sanitized history.
The FBI describes 9/11 as the deadliest terrorist attacks in U.S. history. Nineteen al-Qaida hijackers killed nearly 3,000 people. Canada lists al-Qaida as a terrorist entity and attributes the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks to the group.
CBC said the same attributed-language approach has applied to other attacks, including the 2005 London bombings. The network previously faced criticism for similar guidance after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel, Fox News reported.
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