The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation issued internal guidance directing newsroom staff not to describe the September 11 killings as "terrorist attacks" in coverage leading up to the 25th anniversary of the events. The instructions were outlined in an internal memorandum authored by Basem Boshra, senior director of journalistic standards, and initially published by the Toronto Sun.
The memorandum instructed reporters and editors to frame the events of September 11, 2001, as hijackings that resulted in "plane crashes," rather than using the word "terrorist" to describe the actions or perpetrators. The directive applies across the public network's television, radio, and digital platforms as staff prepare anniversary coverage.
In response to inquiries regarding the internal document, CBC management defended the newsroom guidance. Network representatives stated to the New York Post that the public broadcaster maintains a policy of not independently assigning the label of "terrorism" to acts of violence, maintaining that the term carries political load.
The broadcaster previously maintained the same language policy during coverage of the October 7, 2023, attacks in Israel, when Hamas terrorists carried out cross border assaults. At that time, network management similarly instructed journalists to avoid assigning the term terrorism directly in network attribution, drawing criticism from external media monitors and public officials.
Critics of the policy contend that refusing to label the September 11 attacks as acts of terror distorts historical reality and downplays one of the deadliest terrorist acts in modern history. CBC leadership maintains that its journalistic standards are designed to preserve analytical neutrality by attributing specific descriptors to official bodies rather than adopting them as direct newsroom language.
