Canada's public broadcaster, CBC, issues correction following criticism for asking that 9/11 attacks not be referred to as 'terrorist attacks'

Canadian public broadcaster CBC/Radio-Canada amended its editorial guidelines to allow its journalists to directly describe the attacks of September 11, 2001 as an act of terrorism, following the controversy sparked by an internal guideline stating that they should not refer to them as "terrorist attacks."

The decision came after criticism in the United States and Canada. Among those who publicly questioned the policy were FBI Director Kash Patel and U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra.

The controversy began after an excerpt from an internal CBC News guideline was leaked, stating: "Do not refer to the September 11 attacks as terrorist attacks." The document recommended describing the events as hijackings that ended with aircraft crashing into Washington, D.C., Pennsylvania and Manhattan.

CBC explained that this guideline was part of a long-standing journalistic policy under which the terms "terrorist" and "terrorism" should be used with caution and, in certain cases, attributed to a source.

However, the publication of the guideline sparked a strong reaction. Patel stated that any Canadian agency that did not publicly reject what he called a "bastardization of history" and an insult to the victims of the largest terrorist attack in U.S. history "will no longer have a friend" at the FBI.

"WE WILL NEVER FORGET 9-11," the FBI director added in his message.

Hoekstra also addressed the controversy. The U.S. ambassador to Canada stated that this year the FBI has participated in or been directly responsible for several operations aimed at dismantling terrorist and violent criminal organizations operating in Canada.

"Failure to recognize and confront radical and terrorist ideologies significantly endangers our efforts to establish and harmonize a shared national and economic security partnership," Hoekstra wrote.

The pressure ultimately led CBC to modify the application of its policy in the specific case of 9/11. Basem Boshra, senior director of journalistic standards and public trust at CBC News, explained that over the past 25 years, the network had reported on the attacks as acts carried out by Al Qaeda, the pursuit of those responsible, and the thousands of people who died that day.

Boshra maintained that CBC "has never said" that what happened on September 11 was not terrorism and explained that the network had, until now, used that characterization by attributing it to authorities, governments, and other sources.

"To be clear, CBC News has never said what happened on Sept. 11, 2001 was not terrorism, as some commentators have stated in recent days. We have reported fully and accurately on the reasons and motivations for those attacks as determined by police, governments and an independent commission. We’ve just made sure to do it with attribution," Boshra stated in remarks reported by The New York Post.