Lucretia Hughes Klucken
Nearly 3,000 people were murdered by al-Qaeda terrorists. No media policy can change that truth.
TORONTO — Canada’s publicly funded broadcaster is facing fierce criticism after an internal memorandum instructed reporters not to describe the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks as “terrorist attacks” while covering their upcoming 25th anniversary.
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation confirmed the guidance after journalist Warren Kinsella obtained the memo and made its contents public.
“Do not refer to the Sept. 11 attacks as terrorist attacks,” the memorandum reportedly instructed CBC journalists.
Instead, reporters were advised to state that hijackings led to passenger-jet crashes in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania and that the World Trade Center was destroyed.
That description may be technically factual, but it strips away the most important fact of all: The crashes were not accidents. They were coordinated acts of terrorism committed by men who intended to murder innocent people, spread fear and strike the United States.
Nineteen al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners on Sept. 11, 2001. They deliberately flew two planes into the World Trade Center towers, crashed another into the Pentagon and attempted to strike an additional target before passengers fought back aboard United Airlines Flight 93.
The fourth plane crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
The attacks killed 2,977 innocent people and injured thousands more. They also claimed the lives of 441 first responders and led to illnesses and additional deaths among those exposed to toxins at Ground Zero.
That was terrorism.
CBC spokeswoman Kerry Kelly defended the instruction as part of the broadcaster’s longstanding policy of exercising “extreme caution” when using the words “terrorist” and “terrorism.”
According to CBC, the terms carry political and emotional meaning that could interfere with impartial reporting. The organization prefers using them only when attributed to government officials, experts or other sources.
There may be conflicts in which reporters must carefully examine competing claims before attaching labels. Sept. 11 is not one of them.
Calling 9/11 a terrorist attack is not political commentary. It is not an emotional exaggeration. It is an accurate description of a carefully planned assault carried out by al-Qaeda operatives against civilians and major symbols of the United States.
Even the FBI refers to the perpetrators as terrorists and identifies the investigation as the largest in the agency’s history. The National September 11 Memorial & Museum repeatedly describes what happened as terrorist attacks.
Canadian Conservative member of Parliament Rachael Thomas called the CBC policy “absolutely shameful,” arguing that refusing to describe 9/11 as terrorism dishonors the victims, survivors and first responders.
She is right.
This is what happens when political correctness becomes more important than historical truth. Language is softened, facts are sanitized and evil is reduced to a series of unexplained events.
Passenger planes did not simply crash.
They were hijacked.
The World Trade Center did not simply fall.
It was attacked.
Nearly 3,000 people did not simply die.
They were murdered.
The terrorists chose civilian aircraft because innocent passengers could be used as weapons. They chose the World Trade Center because it represented American economic power. They chose the Pentagon because it represented the nation’s military. They sought another target in Washington because their purpose was political intimidation and mass fear.
That is the definition of terrorism.
Journalists should be precise, and news organizations should resist casually labeling political opponents or peaceful protesters as terrorists. But refusing to use the correct word when reporting one of history’s clearest terrorist attacks is not neutrality.
It is avoidance.
The CBC faced similar criticism after the Hamas-led assault against Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, when the broadcaster instructed journalists not to independently refer to Hamas members as terrorists despite Canada’s official designation of Hamas as a terrorist organization.
That policy did not make the reporting more honest. It made the language less direct.
Words matter because truth matters. When institutions begin erasing clear moral distinctions, younger generations are left with an incomplete understanding of history.
Millions of Americans remember exactly where they were when the first plane struck. They remember watching the second plane hit and realizing the country was under attack. They remember people jumping from burning buildings, first responders running toward danger and terrified passengers making final telephone calls to their families.
They remember the towers falling.
They remember the Pentagon burning.
They remember the courage shown aboard Flight 93.
No memo can rewrite those memories.
On the 25th anniversary, we should speak plainly. We should name the enemy, honor the victims and teach the next generation exactly what happened.
Sept. 11, 2001, was a terrorist attack.
It was a terrorist attack then. It is a terrorist attack now. It will always be remembered as a terrorist attack — and nothing else.
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