CBC defended an internal memo on Thursday that told reporters and editors not to refer to the Sept. 11 attacks as terrorist attacks, saying the instruction reflected how the broadcaster has long handled words such as “terrorist” and “terrorism.” The guidance, authored by CBC News senior director of journalistic standards and public trust Basem Boshra, was first reported ahead of the 25th anniversary of 9/11.
The memo is landing now because the anniversary is about to bring fresh scrutiny to how major newsrooms describe one of the defining events of the century. CBC Public Affairs Director Kerry Kelly said the broadcaster “exercise[s] extreme caution” before using those terms and said the memo was meant as a reminder of a standing practice that favors using them with attribution.
That practice matters in day-to-day reporting because it changes who is making the judgment. Instead of the newsroom itself labeling an event, reporters are pushed to attribute the description to a speaker, document or source when the word is used at all. In this case, the memo said not to call the attacks terrorist attacks and instead described the events as hijackings that led to passenger jet crashes in Washington, D.C., Pennsylvania and Manhattan, with the World Trade Center destroyed.
The language drew a sharp response because the subject is not abstract. Sept. 11, 2001, is still one of the clearest moments in modern memory, and the broadcaster’s wording suggested a narrower frame for describing it. Critics saw that as a softening of the violence, while CBC’s defense rested on a newsroom rule about caution and attribution rather than a change in the underlying facts.
Vickie Paladino condemned the guidance in a statement to Digital, calling it “frankly outrageous and insulting,” while Rachael Thomas posted on X that it was “absolutely shameful.” Thomas also said CBC was “choosing to redefine terrorism in a way that downplays the atrocity of 9/11.” Those reactions pushed the memo beyond an internal standards question and into a public fight over how institutions should talk about the attacks as the anniversary approaches.
Basem Boshra’s memo was also notable for what it did not do: it did not deny what happened on Sept. 11, only set limits on the label attached to it in CBC copy. That leaves the unresolved question where the dispute now sits — whether a newsroom can treat “terrorist” as a term requiring attribution and caution without appearing to retreat from a plain description of the attacks themselves.
