"This segment is inaccurate and literally uses footage from the wrong demonstration. You estimate the number of participants at the Palestine demonstration in the dozens. This is false. TVA, which was actually present at the demonstration in question, showed video clarifying that there were in fact several hundred demonstrators at the Palestine rally."
October 10, 2023
To:
Amanda Kline, Reporter, CTV News
Rosa Hwang, Executive Producer, CTV News
Dan Taylor, Managing Editor, CTV News
Dear Amanda Kline, Dan Taylor, and Rosa Hwang,
I am writing on behalf of Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME, cjpme.org) to insist on correction of your October 9 news segment, “Palestinian community in Montreal voices support for victims in Gaza.”
This segment is inaccurate and literally uses footage from the wrong demonstration.
You estimate the number of participants at the Palestine demonstration in the dozens. This is false. TVA, which was actually present at the demonstration in question, showed video clarifying that there were in fact several hundred demonstrators at the Palestine rally.
You can refer to the TVA clip here. Your report misrepresents the Palestine demonstration. Instead of showing the sea of Palestinian flags, your report misleads viewers into confusing the Palestine demonstration with an anti-NATO demonstration hundreds of meters further south in Dorchester Square. At time stamp 00:24, you feature the secretary general of the Communist Party of Quebec, Adrien Welsh. His was simply a different demonstration.
The sea of Palestinian flags, with many hundreds of people, went from Dorchester Square to the Israeli consulate, as covered by TVA. Your report misleads readers into confusing all of this with the smaller anti-NATO march towards the United States consulate.
This is a gross error concerning an important moment of civic engagement. We insist on an on-air correction that states “several hundred” as the size of the Palestine demonstration.
You must also immediately correct the first sentence in the written news piece that accompanies this segment online. Your first sentence reads: “Dozens took to the streets in downtown Montreal to show their support for Palestinians on Sunday.”
Basic demands of accuracy and professional integrity demand that you replace that sentence with: “Several hundred people took to the streets in downtown Montreal to show their support for Palestinians on Sunday,” as you yourself can see on TVA.
Feel free to reach me at 438-380-5410 should you wish to discuss this matter further.
Sincerely,
Dan Freeman-Maloy
PhD, University of Exeter
Director of Strategic Operations
Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East/
Canadiens pour la Justice et la Paix au Moyen-Orient