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Canadian Broadcaster Tells Staff Not to Call 9/11 Terror Attacks

Ahead of the 25th anniversary of 9/11, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation circulated a memo to reporters instructing them to avoid referring to the attacks that claimed 3,000 lives as "terrorist attacks."
Basem Boshra, Senior Director of Journalistic Standards and Public Trust at CBC News, authored the missive referencing "longstanding language guidance" on the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks carried out by al-Qaeda.
CBC spokesperson Kerry Kelly defended the guidance as encouraging attribution to credible sources, a practice Brodie Fenlon, CBC News editor-in-chief and general manager, outlined in an October 2023 blog.
Conservative MP Rachel Thomas called the memo "shameful," accusing the broadcaster of redefining "terrorism in a way that downplays the atrocity" of the attacks and dishonors victims and survivors.
The controversy involves the public broadcaster, which received over $1.5 billion in taxpayer funding for 2025-26, prompting wider debate about journalistic neutrality and how news organizations define historical events.

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Canadian Broadcaster Tells Staff Not to Call 9/11 Terror Attacks

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