Canada's public broadcaster, CBC/Radio-Canada, announced Friday it will make an exception to its policy of not labeling specific attacks as terrorism, specifically for the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. This decision follows significant criticism after a memo restating the broadcaster's policy was reported ahead of the 25th anniversary of the attacks.
Normally, CBC/Radio-Canada's journalistic standards, similar to those of The Associated Press, advise against reporters labeling events as terrorist attacks unless they are quoting another source. The policy change comes after U.S. officials, including the FBI director and the U.S. ambassador to Canada, along with members of Congress and Canada's Conservative party, expressed their disapproval.
Basem Boshra, senior director of journalistic standards and public trust at CBC, stated in a blog post that the exception is being made to "remove what has unfortunately (and unintentionally) become an impediment to clarity and public understanding." He also affirmed that the broadcaster will continue to attribute causes and motivations of new acts of politically or ideologically motivated violence to officials and experts.
Canada's Culture Minister Marc Miller publicly supported the change, describing the previous guidance as "pedantic and foolish." Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree also issued a press release reiterating the Canadian government's stance that "9/11 as the deadliest terrorist attack in history" and condemning terrorism.
Boshra clarified that CBC News has not stated that the events of Sept. 11, 2001, were not terrorism. He explained that the outlet has reported on the motivations for the attacks as determined by authorities, but with attribution. The controversy began when reports emerged of a memo instructing CBC News staff not to refer to the 9/11 attacks as terrorist attacks.
This led to sharp reactions from U.S. figures. FBI Director Kash Patel posted that any Canadian agency not publicly rejecting the memo's implication would no longer have the FBI as a friend. A group of Republican representatives questioned the motive behind "sanitizing the worst terrorist attack on American soil." U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra echoed these concerns, highlighting the FBI's role in disrupting terrorist organizations in Canada and stating that failing to confront such ideologies endangers shared security efforts.
CBC spokesperson Kerry Kelly had previously told The Canadian Press that the broadcaster uses the terms "terrorism" or "terrorist" with "extreme caution" and that the memo was a reminder of the long-standing practice of attributing such terms, a practice shared by many international news organizations. CBC editor-in-chief Brodie Fenlon wrote in a 2023 blog post that attribution has been their policy for decades, mirroring outlets like the BBC, AP, AFP, and Reuters.