CBC stands by Middle East coverage of Israel-Hamas war: report

Alex Dhaliwal
  |   July 24, 2024   |   Be the first to comment

The CBC ombudsman said employees should not “feel compelled to weigh in on controversial news stories” on social media. The guidance follows a sympathetic tweet for a Palestinian activist arrested for inciting terrorism.

“This is a healthy reminder for those journalists who feel compelled to weigh in on controversial news stories,” wrote Ombudsman Jack Nagler. “While you don’t carry the burden of balance on your social feeds the way CBC does as a whole you are still expected to provide context where necessary.”

The guidance followed a social media post last November 6 by Samira Mohyeddin, a Toronto producer for the CBC Radio program The Current, reported Blacklock’s Reporter. Mohyeddin tweeted in sympathy for Ahed Tamimi, a Palestinian activist arrested for threatening to kill Jews and drink their blood.

The woman was “taken in the middle of the night by Israeli Defence Force soldiers from her home in the occupied West Bank,” wrote Mohyeddin. She omitted context from inflammatory social media posts by Tamimi.

“Our message to the herds of settlers is we are waiting for you in all the West Bank cities from Hebron to Jenin,” Tamimi wrote on social media. “We will slaughter you and you will say what Hitler did was a joke. We will drink your blood and eat your skull. Come on, we are waiting for you.”

Tamimi spent three weeks in Israeli custody and was released last November 29. 

The CBC producer who tweeted in sympathy no longer works for the network, said Ombudsman Nagler. “The journalist should have included more context,” he said.

Rebel News reached out to the network for comment on whether the post contravened its journalistic practices. Chuck Thompson, the broadcaster’s Head of Public Affairs, forwarded their response given to the ombudsman in a recent report.

"All of our journalists are reminded regularly about our expectations regarding the use of social media as it relates to our Journalistic Standards and Practices,” he said in an emailed statement. 

“In the case you highlighted, I can confirm that there has been a discussion about the need to ensure the audience has the information it needs to ensure those standards are met. That context can come in a single post, in a thread or over a period of time.”

The network’s guide recommends restraint on social media. “We strive to avoid having such actions appear to be endorsements. When appropriate and possible we provide context,” it says.

“The specific tweet … forwarded to our attention did not contain the level of context …that would meet our standards,” Thompson said. 

Meanwhile, complaints from the public have skyrocketed, amid concerns with its Middle East reporting. Thousands of Canadians lamented its perceived anti-Jewish bias.

The Crown corporation received a record number of complaints, numbering 4,785 last year. That represents a 45% increase from 2022.

Public perceptions of CBC News soured following its failure to report the October 7 attack on Israel as terrorism. The amount of correspondence the ombudsman received trended downward from 2022 before the terror attacks.

Thompson told Rebel News there has been “no change” in the network’s position “with respect to language” describing the Israel-Hamas war. 

As previously reported by Blacklock’s Reporter, viewers earlier submitted 307 complaints to the ombudsman for referring to the Hamas attackers as “militants” not “terrorists.”

George Achi, Director of Journalistic Standards at CBC, requested journalists “use fact-based language,” as first reported by Rebel News. Hamas has been designated in Canada as a terror group since 2002. 

A CBC article for kids maintained the “militant” designation. “A Palestinian militant group called Hamas attacked Israel by air, land and sea,” it said.

Hamas, or Harakat Al-Muqawama Al-Islamiya, killed 1,200 Israeli citizens and foreign nationals at the time. They also held at least 240 people hostage in Gaza, as human shields. 

“The shocking attacks by Hamas inside Israel and the massive response by Israel inside Gaza that followed were far and away the biggest source of complaints about CBC’s journalism in 2023,” Ombudsman Jack Nagler wrote in his Annual Report. 

The overwhelming consensus shows classifying Hamas killers as militants “trivializes their true nature and intent,” he said.

MPs from several House parties have soundly rejected the deliberately mild language.

Meanwhile, the Trudeau government earlier rejected a Conservative motion to question Achi over the editorial stance. A 2011 directive by the ombudsman said the network did not ban its reporters from using the word.

Nagler said if the network had described the events of October 7 as an act of terrorism, their initial coverage would have been more accurate. He concludes their coverage did not violate the company's Journalistic Standards And Practices.

According to section 83.01 of the Criminal Code, terrorism is defined as violent lawlessness “for a political, religious or ideological purpose” with the “intention of intimidating the public.” 

“In choosing to avoid that term CBC made its own job of describing the nature of what happened October 7 more difficult,” Ombudsman Nagler said. 

He described their language as “antiseptic”, as if the war was a “normal clash” between two rival military forces.

Alex Dhaliwal

Journalist and Writer

Alex Dhaliwal is a Political Science graduate from the University of Calgary. He has actively written on relevant Canadian issues with several prominent interviews under his belt.

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