Why, then, did no Conservative say that the word “terrorist” has been used repeatedly in CBC coverage citing other individuals?
What Ms. Gladu neglected to read, of course, because they're trying to torque this, was the most important parts of the memo that went out. One is, “Our description should be fact-based, referring to the end of permanent Israeli military presence on the ground” in Gaza. That is a fact.
For those of us who have been to Israel and Palestine—as I have—we know that the Israeli military controls access to certain areas. Again, that's a fact.
As always, please use fact-based language, avoid loaded qualifiers and anything that sounds like opinion. The story, with its context, speaks for itself. There will obviously be a lot of external opinion to report as part of our coverage: it is important that those clips and quotes are very clearly attributed and not separated from fact-checking and context. This is not a story that comes out of the blue, but is deeply rooted in the political and military landscape of the past few years.
What the CBC is attempting to do, under difficult circumstances, is take a fact-based approach to coverage. As a result of that, you can see that the CBC is putting forward the same kinds of journalistic standards that we see from the BBC, from the AP, from the Agence France-Presse and Reuters, among many others. These are standard journalistic approaches that are fundamental for Canadians to understand the truth of the horrific violence of the terrorist attacks and the truth of the growing civilian casualties that we're seeing in Gaza.
We need to have a fact-based approach.
Often, CBC/Radio-Canada journalists put their lives on the line to do their job, to give Canadians answers and to ensure that they receive the information that matters. It's very important to be able to hear the facts, even though the environment is extremely difficult and the situation is often nebulous. That is what we expect from CBC/Radio-Canada, whose journalists have once again succeeded despite all these challenges in providing accurate and important information.
One other area on which I think Mrs. Thomas and I agree is the issue of the information that was put online around the bombing of the hospital in Gaza, or the rocket falling on it. It is very clear to me that we need that information. We need to know the sources of that information.
I think she's correct to point out that CBC went with a story that may well not have been true. As a result of that, it ran the retraction. That is extremely important. That is the kind of high journalistic standard that I think we all expect.