Lawfare Project submits complaint regarding biased media coverage of Al Jazeera reporter’s death
Last Thursday, The Lawfare Project, together with our counsel at RE-LAW LLP, filed a complaint raising significant concerns with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s (CBC) coverage of the recent death of Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh.
As detailed in the complaint, the coverage presents an overwhelmingly anti-Israel portrayal of the events surrounding the death. In our view, the CBC’s biased and erroneous reporting of the facts, coupled with a stunning lack of crucial contextual information, violates the basic principles of accuracy, fairness, balance, and impartiality, as set forth in the CBC’s Journalistic Standards and Practices and the Canadian Association of Journalists’ Principles for Ethical Journalism.
The complaint requests that these concerns be carefully examined and that steps be taken to publicly acknowledge and correct the record, as well as to ensure that future CBC coverage complies with its own policies and professional standards.
Abu Akleh was killed in May 2022, in Jenin, during a live fire exchange between Palestinians and the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). According to The Jerusalem Post, the Palestinian Authority has refused to cooperate with Israel in the investigation of Abu Akleh’s death, including denying Israel access to the bullet that killed her.
The complaint was submitted to the Chairperson and CEO of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission and to the CBC Ombudsman. Highlighted examples of the alleged violations of applicable journalistic standards include the following:
The CBC failed to clarify that the increased anti-terror presence of the IDF in Jenin at the time of Abu Akleh’s death was not an isolated event, but rather was due to the violent wave of Palestinian terrorism that has raged in Israeli cities during the past month. Several of these terror attacks were perpetrated by Palestinians from Jenin and surrounding areas.
While the CBC reported that Israeli law enforcement physically assaulted mourners carrying Abu Akleh’s casket, it largely ignored the fact (captured on video) that rioters were violently attacking the Israeli officers and hurling dangerous objects.
The CBC published an Associated Press piece on its website, which relies overwhelmingly on anti-Israeli information and sources and downplays Israeli perspectives. The article quotes Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, his senior aide, Hussein al-Sheikh, Al Jazeera, and unnamed “journalists who were with [Abu Akleh].” At the same time, the article vaguely refers to “Israeli officials” and “Israel,” and a quote from the only named Israeli source, Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz, is buried at the bottom of the piece.
The CBC aired commentary from Nour Odeh, who was identified as a “former Palestinian journalist.” However, the report fails to note that Ms. Odeh was a “former spokesperson for the Palestinian Authority” and recently ran as a candidate in Palestinian elections.
“Reporting on complex geopolitical incidents by media outlets that receive huge sums of government funding must include unbiased, fair and contextually accurate reporting,” said David Elmaleh, Partner at RE-LAW LLP and counsel to The Lawfare Project in this matter. “The complaint filed by The Lawfare Project will force the CBC to examine its coverage, and measure it against its internal policies and industry standards. In our view, the media can, and must, do better.”
As Canada’s “public broadcaster,” and in accordance with its own standards, the CBC is charged with providing Canadians truthful and unbiased news, and with upholding the tenets of accuracy, fairness, transparency, and accountability. The coverage of Abu Akleh’s death falls far short, and must be corrected if the CBC is to maintain the public’s trust.