CBC is listening. Let’s push forward for action

CBC Ombudsman, Jack Nagler, has confirmed that the “number one focus of complaints [he] received had to do with coverage of the Middle East”. 

Please read the Ombuds inbox summary May 2021

We believe that we have much support within the CBC journalistic community as ethical coverage of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict by necessity would entail shedding light on the human cost of the Israeli’s occupation, covering the rise of extreme right-wing Jewish nationalism within Israel at the institutional and governmental levels, and highlighting the consequences of this extremism on Israel’s Arab minorities and Palestinians within its occupied territories.  

However, for reasons not so obvious to us, this support is lacking within CBC at decision-making levels.  Ombudsman Nagler over-simplifies the issue in mentioning that “there is a persistent theme in complaints that come to my office.  People question whether the public broadcaster is emphasizing the right issues, providing the right context and asking the right questions”.  He further suggests that “these are questions to pose to programmers” but neglects to affirm that he will raise these questions.

Implicit in Ombudsman Nagler's response is that both the pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli camps are unhappy with CBCs coverage and therefore, “finding consensus on the answers is often impossible”.

We will request the following from Ombudsman Nagler in our response:

Still, why did CBC not cover the 2021 HRW report on Israel?  Most importantly, will CBC cover this report soon on radio and through their TV programs?

Here is why we think it is important to cover the 2021 HRW report on CBC:

• HRW a respected, unbiased, and data-driven human rights watchdog. CBC has been covering their annual reports over the course of many years. Why not this report?
• The issue of Palestinian human rights pertains directly to prestigious Canadian institutions such as the University of Toronto, where leadership blocked the hiring of law professor Dr. Valentina Azarova at the request of a right-wing donor who was critical of her record on reporting Israeli violations of Palestinian human rights.  The blind institutional support for the pro-Israel camp against Palestinian human rights is clearly intervening with academic freedom.
• Canadians have been protesting across the country in support of Palestinian citizens in Israel, Jerusalem, and Gaza, with massive protests in Toronto, London, and Montreal.  Large protests have also erupted around the world in the UK, Germany, Australia, France, and many other countries. The main focus of these protests was Palestinian human rights.
• May be, as a result of their visibility, of Muslim Canadians practicing their democratic right to protest and let their voice be heard by their government representatives and to stop the Israeli on-slaughter of innocent civilians, that a Muslim family was targeted by a racist attack in London, Ontario.
• Unfortunately, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict has real and dire consequences on the rise of both anti-Semitism and Islamophobia within the Canada.  There is an urgent need to have this difficult, but necessary, conversation to circumvent “alternative facts” on social media.

These points highlight the urgent need to have a national conversation on Canada’s biggest and most dominant media platform, the CBC.