The RNC banned CBC/Radio-Canada journalists from its upcoming convention over the network’s policy on describing the September 11 attacks.
The Republican National Committee revoked previously approved credentials for CBC/Radio-Canada reporters set to cover the party’s midterm convention in Dallas, Texas, on September 9 and 10. The move came after an internal CBC memo instructed staff not to call the September 11 attacks a “terrorist” incident without attribution to a source.
Chuck Thompson, CBC’s head of public affairs, confirmed the credential revocation and said the broadcaster was reviewing its options. “It is a disappointing development; we hope it will be reconsidered,” Thompson said.
In a formal letter to CBC, the RNC cited the internal memo directly. The committee noted that CBC had not apologized for the policy and said allowing the network’s journalists into the convention would be an “insult” to victims of what it described as the deadliest terrorist attack in American history. Credentials were pulled for both the English-language CBC service and the French-language Radio-Canada, even though Radio-Canada had no equivalent written policy of its own.
As originally reported, the controversy began when a leaked internal memo from Basem Boshra, CBC’s senior director of journalistic standards and public trust, circulated ahead of the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks. The memo restated a longstanding CBC practice of generally avoiding the words “terrorist” and “terrorism” when describing specific events unless those terms were attributed to a named source. It referred to the attacks as hijackings that resulted in passenger jets crashing in Manhattan, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania. The Toronto Sun first published the excerpt, and it quickly drew sharp criticism from U.S. officials and Republican lawmakers.
CBC moved to address the backlash on August 28. Boshra published an editor’s blog post acknowledging that the leaked portion of the memo “has caused significant concern, anger and hurt for many people who believe CBC News seeks to minimize or obscure the horror of that day and who was behind it.”
Boshra was clear that CBC had never denied the events of September 11, 2001, were terrorism. He pointed to 25 years of the network’s coverage as evidence of a consistent, unflinching account of the al-Qaeda attacks.
Still, he announced a policy adjustment. “After reviewing our current language guidance, we have decided to adjust it to clarify that direct attribution is not required for describing the historic events of 9/11 as terrorism,” Boshra wrote. He added that the change was made to eliminate what had “unfortunately and unintentionally become an impediment to clarity and public understanding.”
Whether that adjustment will be enough to satisfy the RNC and restore CBC’s convention access remains an open question. Thompson said the network is still weighing its next steps.