CBC drops 9/11 wording rule after backlash in Canada and US
What's new: The broadcaster will now call 9/11 terrorism without attribution, while keeping attribution rules for new politically motivated attacks.
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation changed its editorial guidance on Aug. 28 to allow journalists to describe the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks as terrorism without attributing the term to a source. Senior director of journalistic standards Basem Boshra wrote that the old rule had become “an impediment to clarity and public understanding” ahead of the attacks’ 25th anniversary.
The shift came after criticism in Canada and the United States over a leaked excerpt from CBC’s internal language guide. Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre called the earlier wording “an appalling distortion of history,” while FBI Director Kash Patel said it insulted those killed in the deadliest attack in US history. CBC said it had never denied that 9/11 was terrorism and would continue to require attribution for newer ideologically or politically motivated violence.