Canada's CBC to use 'terrorism' for 9/11 after criticism

Canada's public broadcaster, CBC, has announced a policy change allowing the direct use of the word "terrorism" to describe the September 11, 2001 attacks. This decision follows significant criticism, particularly from the United States, after media outlets published details of an internal CBC message suggesting the term should be attributed to specific sources rather than used as a direct descriptor.

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We have simply ensured that we did so via attribution of the term "terrorism" to sources.

Basem Boshra, CBC's director of journalistic standards and public trust, stated that the leaked excerpt, presented without context, had generated public questions that the broadcaster needed to address. He clarified that CBC News had always reported on the reasons and motivations behind the attacks as determined by official investigations but had previously ensured attribution for the term "terrorism."

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After examining our current language guidelines, we have decided to adjust them to clarify that direct attribution is not necessary to describe the historical events of September 11 as terrorism.

However, after reviewing its language guidelines, CBC decided to "adjust" them to "clarify that direct attribution is not necessary to describe the historical events of September 11 as terrorism." This move comes amid escalating trade tensions between Washington and Ottawa, with U.S. officials strongly reacting to the initial reporting.

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Any agency in Canada that does not publicly reject this distortion of history, and this insult to the souls lost during the largest terrorist attack in U.S. history, will no longer have a friend within the FBI.

FBI Director Kash Patel expressed strong disapproval, stating that any Canadian agency not publicly rejecting the "distortion of history" would lose favor with the FBI. U.S. Ambassador to Canada, Pete Hoekstra, also commented on X, suggesting that an "inability to recognize or confront radical and terrorist ideologies seriously endangers our efforts to establish and harmonize a common national security and economic partnership."

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The inability to recognize or confront radical and terrorist ideologies seriously endangers our efforts to establish and harmonize a common national security and economic partnership.