The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) announced an internal policy adjustment on Friday, clarifying its stance on describing the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks as "terrorist attacks." The change comes after a leaked memo sparked controversy and accusations that the public broadcaster sought to minimize the horrific nature of the events.
Basem Boshra, CBC News' senior director of journalistic standards and public trust, authored the memo that initially advised staff against using the term "terrorist attacks." Instead, it suggested referring to the events as hijackings that resulted in the destruction of the World Trade Center and the crashing of passenger jets in Pennsylvania and Washington D.C.
The directive, first reported by Toronto Sun columnist Warren Kinsella, generated significant concern and anger among those who felt the CBC was obscuring the perpetrators and the gravity of the attacks.
In response, CBC released a new memo titled "How and why CBC News will adjust its 9/11 language guidance." Boshra stated that the leaked excerpt, amplified without full context, caused "significant concern, anger and hurt." He emphasized that CBC News has never denied that the events of Sept. 11, 2001, constituted terrorism, and that its reporting over the past 25 years has been an "unflinching account of the devastating attacks by al-Qaeda."
"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," Boshra explained. He added that the extreme care around the use of the words "terrorist" and "terrorism" was previously detailed in an editor's blog.
"To be clear, CBC News has never said what happened on Sept. 11, 2001, was not terrorism, as some commentators have stated in recent days," Boshra wrote. "We have reported fully and accurately on the reasons and motivations for those attacks as determined by police, governments and an independent commission. We've just made sure to do it with attribution."
However, to address the public's confusion and concerns, the CBC has decided to adjust its guidance. "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," Boshra stated. "We are doing so to remove what has unfortunately (and unintentionally) become an impediment to clarity and public understanding."
Boshra concluded by noting that the CBC will continue its practice of attributing causes and motivations to officials and experts for new acts of politically or ideologically motivated violence.
Separately, a military judge on Friday dismissed a confession made by Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the 9/11 attacks. The judge ruled that statements made by Mohammed to investigators in 2007 were not given voluntarily. A trial date for Mohammed and three co-defendants has been set for June 2028.