Canada’s state broadcaster announced Friday that journalists will no longer be required to attribute the term “terrorism” when describing the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.
“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,” said Basem Boshra, CBC’s senior director of journalistic standards and public trust.
Travis Dhanraj@Travisdhanraj
#BREAKING: @CBCNews backs down, changing its 9/11 language guidance after days of public outrage.
cbc.ca/news/editorsbl…
9:02 PM · Aug 28, 2026 · 17.1K Views
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The reversal follows the leak of internal guidance instructing journalists: “Do not refer to the Sept. 11 attacks as terrorist attacks.”
Instead, reporters were told to describe the hijackings and crashes without independently characterizing them as terrorism.
