The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) has reversed its internal guidance that advised journalists to use extreme caution before labeling the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks as terrorism, following a significant backlash from U.S. and Canadian officials.
In a revised Editor's Blog post on Monday, CBC News' senior director of journalistic standards and public trust, Basem Boshra, stated, "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." This change followed an earlier internal memo that had reportedly instructed staff to avoid the term "terrorist attacks" unless it was directly attributed.
Former New York Gov. George Pataki, who was in office during the attacks, criticized the initial guidance, stating on X that "Fear of being accused of Islamophobia cannot become an excuse for denying the plain truth. This is a shameful failure of moral courage. Truth matters in a free society."
U.S. political figures also voiced strong criticism. New York City Councilwoman Vickie Paladino described the reversal as a minimal correction that did not resolve her concerns. "The fact that the institutional instinct of the CBC was to downplay the 9/11 terror attacks reveals a deep ideological rot that cannot be ignored," Paladino said. "Unfortunately, the CBC, like Canada itself, appears to be a fundamentally broken institution, and one correction made under severe duress doesn't change much of anything."
House Republicans questioned the CBC's motives, posting on X, "What possible motive could there be for sanitizing the worst terrorist attack on American soil? Care to explain, @Canada?"
Canadian officials also responded to the controversy. Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre called for a retraction and apology, stating, "To call 9/11 anything other than a terrorist attack is an appalling distortion of history. It dishonours the victims and their families, the survivors, and the first responders who suffered from the horrors of that day."
Canadian Culture Minister Marc Miller acknowledged the reversal corrected guidance that had caused "legitimate anger." Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree affirmed that Canada has always recognized 9/11 as history's deadliest terrorist attack.
The FBI's Director Kash Patel commented that the policy "bastardized history," while U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra warned that failing to confront terrorist ideologies endangers the nations' shared security partnership.
The CBC had initially defended the memo as reflecting a longstanding attribution policy, explaining that the terms "terrorist" and "terrorism" were politically and emotionally loaded. However, the broadcaster later conceded that the excerpt lacked context and caused concern, anger, and hurt.
The 9/11 attacks involved 19 al-Qaeda terrorists hijacking four commercial airplanes. Two planes were flown into the World Trade Center in New York City, one into the Pentagon near Washington, D.C., and the fourth crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after passengers attempted to regain control.