The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), Canada's public broadcaster, reversed its controversial directive that prevented its journalists from independently defining the September 11, 2001 attacks as "terrorist attacks" and announced that its professionals will be able to use the term again without needing to attribute it to third parties.
The controversy erupted after an internal memo sent to CBC employees ahead of the 25th anniversary of 9/11 revealed an explicit order: "Do not refer to the September 11 attacks as terrorist attacks".
The CBC had prohibited referring to the September 11, 2001 attacks as "terrorist attacks"
Instead of using that designation, the guide suggested describing the events simply by stating that the airplane hijackings resulted in aircraft impacts in New York, Washington D.C., and Pennsylvania, in addition to indicating that the World Trade Center was destroyed.
Under the argument that these are words loaded with "political and emotional implications", CBC had initially defended this stance, claiming it sought to preserve the impartiality of its journalists.
However, the decision provoked a strong public reaction. Conservative Canadian MP Rachael Thomas argued that refusing to call the 9/11 attacks terrorism dishonored the victims, families, survivors, and emergency service members who witnessed the attacks.
The questioning gained special relevance as the attacks carried out by Al Qaeda on September 11, 2001, left nearly 3,000 dead following the hijacking of four commercial airplanes and the attacks on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon.
Basem Boshra, the senior Egyptian director of "journalistic standards and public trust of the network"
In light of the growing controversy, CBC finally reviewed its rules and had to abandon the minimization of the events. Basem Boshra, the Egyptian senior director of "journalistic standards and public trust at the network," stated that the leak of the policy had generated concern and assured that the media's goal had never been to minimize the attacks.
The broadcaster ultimately acknowledged that the requirement had inadvertently become "an impediment to clarity and public understanding" and announced that a direct attribution will no longer be necessary to describe the historical events of 9/11 as terrorism. For new incidents of "political or ideological violence", however, CBC will continue to apply its restrictive criteria.
