I want to move on to another issue. A 2021 open letter made clear the problem faced by Canadian journalists when covering Palestine:
Anyone who has worked in a Canadian newsroom has encountered the reluctance or resistance to covering Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Canadian style guides still ban the use of the word “Palestine” in coverage; this has led to many corrections over the years. Racialized journalists have reported feeling overly scrutinized, or even censored, after every story pitch on this region.
I will also indicate that I recently worked with groups like Independent Jewish Voices to call on the Canada Revenue Agency to end the practice of Canadian charities illegally funding settlements or facilitating war crimes in Palestine. The CBC and other outlets did not cover this.
Following the release of the letter I quoted from, two CBC journalists were told they could no longer report on Palestine. This has been repeated time and time again.
In fact, last week journalist Arfa Rana wrote about her experience of being the only Muslim in her newsroom trying to provide context to the CBC's coverage of Palestine and Israel. After raising the concerns she had, she was punished by her editors by being dismissed from daily pitch meetings for a few weeks. A senior producer told her that Palestine was an outdated term, like Persia.
The journalist makes no mention of that senior producer receiving any sort of punishment. Who knows? Maybe he even received a bonus. She wrote, “when crimes against humanity are being committed, there is no such thing as both sides to a story. There is only the truth.” Her treatment by CBC executives led to her resigning her position. The CBC is worse off as a result.
I want to indicate that when we're talking about a crisis of reputation, we're also talking about the CBC's coverage of what's happening in Palestine right now, something that we've heard a number of people be critical of. I know that the editorial line needs to be separate from your side of things, but what can the next president of the CBC do to ensure that journalists aren't being silenced or stifled, or that both-siding a genocide isn't happening from our public broadcaster?