CBC caves on 9/11 'terrorism' guidance as US, Canadian officials unleash cross-border backlash

Elected leaders and senior officials in the U.S. and Canada denounced the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) on Monday after it reversed guidance telling journalists not to describe the Sept. 11 attacks as terrorism without attribution.

New York City Councilwoman Vickie Paladino told Fox News Digital Monday that the reversal had not resolved her concerns.

"While it's certainly good that some modicum of reality has prevailed in this instance, it should not have required a week of international outrage and pressure from the United States Government. The fact that the institutional instinct of the CBC was to downplay the 9/11 terror attacks reveals a deep ideological rot that cannot be ignored," Paladino said.

"Unfortunately, the CBC, like Canada itself, appears to be a fundamentally broken institution, and one correction made under severe duress doesn't change much of anything," she added.

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CBC Head of Public Affairs Chuck Thompson responded Monday by directing Fox News Digital to the broadcaster's revised Editor's Blog, which explained its Friday reversal.

"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," CBC News’ senior director of journalistic standards and public trust Basem Boshra said.

The change came one day after Fox News Digital first reported that an internal memo authored by Boshra had directed staff to avoid the terrorism label unless it was attributed. Boshra's memo gave CBC journalists an explicit instruction on terminology.

"Do not refer to the Sept. 11 attacks as terrorist attacks," the memo had said.

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Former New York Gov. George Pataki, who led the state on 9/11, said the guidance sanitized the deliberate hijackings.

"Fear of being accused of Islamophobia cannot become an excuse for denying the plain truth. This is a shameful failure of moral courage. Truth matters in a free society," Pataki said on X.

Canadian criticism crossed party lines. 

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre demanded a retraction and apology.

"To call 9/11 anything other than a terrorist attack is an appalling distortion of history. It dishonours the victims and their families, the survivors, and the first responders who suffered from the horrors of that day," Poilievre said on X.

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Canadian Culture Minister Marc Miller of the Liberal Party said the reversal corrected guidance that had caused legitimate anger. 

Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree said Canada had always recognized 9/11 as history's deadliest terrorist attack. CBC posted its revision less than an hour after his statement.

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House Republicans also pressed Canada to explain the policy.

"What possible motive could there be for sanitizing the worst terrorist attack on American soil? Care to explain, @Canada?" the House Republican Conference said.

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Rep. Lisa McClain, R-Mich., also criticized the guidance. 

FBI Director Kash Patel said it bastardized history, while U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra said failing to confront terrorist ideologies endangered the nations’ shared security partnership.

The CBC initially told Fox News Digital that the memo reflected a longstanding attribution policy, pointing to an earlier explanation that the terms were politically and emotionally loaded. It later said the leaked excerpt lacked context and caused concern, anger and hurt.

The 9/11 attacks, which happened 25 years ago next month, are the most lethal terrorist attacks in history.

Nineteen al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four planes, flying two into the World Trade Center in New York City and another into the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. The fourth airliner crashed in Pennsylvania without hitting its target after heroic passengers tried to retake the controls.

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani for comment, but did not immediately receive responses.