CBC allows reporters to describe 9/11 attacks as terrorism without attribution after backlash

Following an international outcry about a memo advising reporters to not refer to 9/11 as 'terrorism,' CBC has announced it has revised its editorial guidelines on the matter.

As previously reported by The Jerusalem Post on Thursday, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) circulated a memo last week to reporters and editors instructing them not to refer to the attacks as “terrorist attacks.”

The memo was authored by Basem Boshra, senior director of journalistic standards and public trust at CBC News, and sent to reporters and editors.

CBC spokeswoman Kerry Kelly told the Post that it is the practice of the CBC to “exercise extreme caution before using the words terrorist and terrorism" and that the memo was a reminder of the "longstanding practice that favors the use of these terms with attribution in our reporting."

CBC News will adjust its 9/11 language guidance 

However, on Friday, Chuck Thompson, Head of Public Affairs at CBC, informed the Post that CBC News will adjust its 9/11 language guidance.

In a new editor's blog, Boshra (the author of the original memo), noted that "CBC News finds itself once again in a swirl of confusion about how our journalists use the words 'terrorist' and 'terrorism,' this time about the al-Qaeda attacks on New York, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania on Sept. 11, 2001."

He noted that the memo caused significant concern, anger and hurt for people who "believe CBC News seeks to minimize or obscure the horror of that day and who was behind it," but said that "that is the last thing we want to do."

"CBC News has never said what happened on Sept. 11, 2001, was not terrorism, as some commentators have stated in recent days. We have reported fully and accurately on the reasons and motivations for those attacks as determined by police, governments and an independent commission."

"CBC's reporting on terrorism, wherever it occurs, has always been guided by the principle of attribution, and like other major news organizations, it has been our practice for decades," he said

Future reporting on other events will continue to require attribution

However, following the uproar, Boshra said that "after reviewing our current language guidance, we have decided to adjust it to clarify that direct attribution is not required for describing the historic events of 9/11 as terrorism."

"We are doing so to remove what has unfortunately (and unintentionally) become an impediment to clarity and public understanding," he said.

Future reporting on other events will continue to require attribution; the new guidance only changes the rule for 9/11.