Conservative MPs want to bring CBC executives before Commons committee over 'terrorism' language policy

A pair of Conservative MPs will try to compel a CBC executive and a journalism standards director to appear before a House of Commons committee to defend the company's language guide — which discourages the use of the words "terrorism" and "terrorists" when describing attacks and their perpetrators.

Alberta Conservative MP Rachael Thomas, the party's Canadian heritage critic, said in a statement posted to social media that the idea is to hold the Crown corporation accountable for what she calls "its biased coverage of Hamas' attack on Israel."

She said an internal email about language guide policies that urges caution about using the word "terrorist" — which was subsequently leaked and picked up by other outlets, including Fox News — suggests the CBC is downplaying violence perpetrated by Hamas against innocent Israeli civilians.

She said the news organization should clearly refer to the attackers behind the "horrific, sadistic violence" as terrorists.

She also took issue with CBC guidance that says its journalists should be careful about describing the past Israeli presence in Gaza.

Rockets are fired toward Israel from the Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel, on Monday, Oct. 16, 2023. (Leo Correa/AP Photo)

Leon Mar, a spokesperson for CBC News, said the corporation's journalists are on the ground in the region "risking their safety in order to tell Canadians what is happening there.

"They are the very best at what they do and the quality and accuracy of their journalism stands among the best in the world."

Mar said the corporation is aware that "some members of Parliament believe they have a role in determining how journalists do their work."

"It is worth remembering that the independence of CBC/Radio-Canada's journalism from the government and Parliament is protected in law, in the Broadcasting Act," Mar said.

Thomas is backed by the party's deputy leader, Ontario MP Melissa Lantsman, who said she'd force the issue before the public accounts committee, which is due to meet Tuesday.

The Conservative MPs would need the support of at least one other party to compel the committee to launch a study of the issue.

Lantsman said she will pressure the NDP to back the study.

"Will they allow a recipient of $1.4 billion in tax dollars to give a pass to terrorists?" she said, referring to the corporation's parliamentary appropriation. CBC/Radio-Canada received roughly $1.2 billion in government funding in 2022, according to the most recent annual report.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has vowed to "defund the CBC" if elected.

In a video posted to social media, Lantsman said the CBC doesn't have "journalistic integrity" because "if you can't call people who murder the elderly, kidnap children, rape women and kill entire families terrorists, then I don't think it's worth funding."

Covered with the Israeli flag, the body of Ben Fishman is buried at Pardes Haim cemetery in Kfar Saba, near Tel Aviv, Israel, Sunday, Oct. 15, 2023. Fishman was killed when Hamas unleashed its attack on thousands of Jews attending a music festival in southern Israel earlier this month. (Francisco Seco/AP Photo)

Brodie Fenlon, CBC News' editor-in-chief, defended the corporation's reporting on the conflict in an editors' blog posted Monday.

The post came more than a week after the language guide policy was disseminated to CBC journalists and leaked to an outside group.

"Within hours of these shocking Hamas attacks, we had several teams on the ground in Israel, more than any other Canadian news organization, and we documented in gruesome, explicit detail what transpired over that weekend," Fenlon wrote.

"I believe that we, as a news organization, have accurately depicted the horror of what happened in those attacks — and there is no doubt in the minds of our audience about what Hamas did."

Fenlon also pointed to news items that have included the words "terrorist" or "terrorism" when they have been attributed to others. There isn't a "ban" on use of the word, he said.

"You will hear the acts described as terror. You will hear that governments, including Canada's, have designated Hamas a terrorist organization. And you will always hear those terms attributed to governments, officials, authorities, experts and politicians," Fenlon said.

Hamas was created in the late 1980s with founding documents that called for the destruction of Israel. It has said its goal is to drive all Israeli forces from Palestinian territories and set up an Islamic state. It has been designated a terrorist entity under Canadian law.

In the early hours of Hamas' brutal surprise attack on Israelis, which left hundreds dead and others captured, George Achi, the corporation's director of journalistic standards and public trust, asked journalists to read the language guide entry on the Middle East.

Palestinians wait to cross to the Egyptian side at Rafah border, Gaza Strip, Monday, Oct. 16, 2023. (Hatem Ali/AP Photo)

He highlighted that it's acceptable to use the short-form "Gaza" when referring to the Gaza strip.

But he said the 2005 Israeli disengagement from the Palestinian territory should not be described as "the end of the occupation" because Israel maintains control over the area's airspace, seafront "and virtually all movement into or out of the area."

In 2005, under former prime minister Ariel Sharon, Israel dismantled longstanding Israeli settlements and forcibly expelled some Jewish settlers from Gaza amid fierce opposition from some Israeli politicians and citizens.

Hamas won 2006 parliamentary elections and in 2007 violently seized control of Gaza from the internationally recognized Palestinian Authority.

Israel then responded to the Hamas takeover with a blockade on Gaza, restricting movement of people and goods in and out of the territory — a step it said is needed to keep the group from developing weapons.

"Our description should be fact-based, referring to the end of permanent Israeli military presence on the ground," Achi said.

He also said CBC journalists "do not refer to militants, soldiers or anyone else as 'terrorists.'"

"The notion of terrorism remains heavily politicized and is part of the story. Even when quoting/clipping a government or a source referring to fighters as 'terrorists,' we should add context to ensure the audience understands this is opinion, not fact. That includes statements from the Canadian government and Canadian politicians," Achi said.

Achi was not specific about what "context" should be added when quoting someone else branding Hamas as a terrorist organization.

A Palestinian carries a water canister by buildings destroyed in an Israeli airstrike in Nuseirat camp in the central Gaza Strip, Monday, Oct. 16, 2023. (Hatem Moussa/AP Photo)

Thomas and Lanstman said Achi should be called to appear before the Commons' heritage committee.

The two MPs also said Catherine Tait, the president and CEO of CBC/Radio-Canada, should "appear for two hours by herself within seven days of the motion being adopted."

Mar, the CBC spokesperson, did not address a question about whether Achi or Tait would agree to testify if called to appear by the committee.

The language guide, which is not intended for public consumption and is password-protected to restrict its use to employees, goes into greater detail about using the words terrorist and terrorism in CBC news coverage.

The overarching goal, the guide states, is to avoid "virtually endless questions about consistency and impartiality in our coverage of various attacks around the world."

"Terrorism generally implies attacks against unarmed civilians for political, religious or some other ideological reason. But it's a highly controversial term that can leave journalists taking sides in a conflict," the guide reads.

"By restricting ourselves to neutral language, we aren't faced with the problem of calling one incident a "terrorist act" (e.g., the destruction of the World Trade Center) while classifying another as, say, a mere "bombing" (e.g., the destruction of a crowded shopping mall in the Middle East)," the guide reads.

BBC, the British public broadcaster, also avoids using the words terrorist or terrorism unattributed.

John Simpson, the BBC's world affairs editor, said in a story last week that terrorism is "a loaded word" that "people use about an outfit they disapprove of morally."

"It's simply not the BBC's job to tell people who to support and who to condemn — who are the good guys and who are the bad guys," Simpson said.