CBC Memo Limits Use of “Terrorist” in 9/11 Coverage Ahead of 25th Anniversary

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) circulated an internal memorandum to its reporters and editors instructing them not to label the September 11, 2001 attacks as “terrorist attacks.” The guidance was issued in the run-up to the 25th anniversary of the attacks.

The Jerusalem Post

CBC’s language policy dates back several decades. The policy applies uniformly to all violent incidents, including the 2001 attacks on the United States, the 2011 Moscow airport bombing, the 2005 London bombings, and the 2004 Madrid train bombings.

The Jerusalem Post

The corporation maintains that the guidance is intended to preserve impartiality and avoid “impediments to our journalism.”

New York Post

The memo’s factual description references the four hijacked airliners, the crashes in Washington, D.C., Pennsylvania and Manhattan, and the destruction of the World Trade Center towers. Public reports note that the September 11 attacks resulted in nearly 3,000 deaths, including 24 Canadian citizens.

LEAKED: CBC instructs reporters not to call 9/11 a ‘terrorist attack’

• September 11, 2001 – Al-Qaeda hijackers carried out the attacks that destroyed the World Trade Center and caused multiple aircraft crashes.

LEAKED: CBC instructs reporters not to call 9/11 a ‘terrorist attack’

• October 2023 – CBC publishes blog outlining its language policy on “terrorist” terminology.

The Jerusalem Post

• Ahead of the 25th anniversary (2026) – CBC circulates the memo restricting the use of “terrorist” in coverage of the September 11 attacks.

The Jerusalem Post

• “CBC News does not itself designate specific groups as terrorists, or specific acts as terrorism, regardless of the region or the events, because these words are so loaded with meaning, politics and emotion that they can end up being impediments to our journalism.” — Brodie Fenlon, CBC news editor-in-chief and general manager, where he

The Jerusalem Post

• “Our focus is to report the facts of such atrocities with accuracy, clarity and detail; to convey the scale and scope of violent acts wherever they occur; to quote the people affected, and to convey the views of officials and experts on these events. We bear witness,” — Kerry Kelly, CBC spokeswoman

New York Post

CBC’s upcoming programming for the 25th anniversary will follow the memo’s guidance, using descriptive language without the term “terrorist” unless directly quoted from external sources.

The Jerusalem Post