"By the time you published this report, more Palestinians than Israelis had been killed in this week’s violence: now more than 1,800 Palestinians killed by Israel, and the number daily rises by the hundreds. Your emphasis on Israeli losses will be read as lopsided, i.e. racist."
October 13, 2023
To:
Jonathan Whitten, News Director, CityNews
Andrea Baillie, Editor-in-Chief, Canadian Press
Tim Cook, Managing Editor, Canadian Press
Morgan Lowrie, Reporter, Canadian Press
Dear Andrea Baillie, Tim Cook, Jonathan Whitten, and Morgan Lowrie,
I am writing on behalf of Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME, cjpme.org) to implore you to correct the imbalance in your October 13 article, “Canadian universities face challenges navigating Israel-Hamas war.”
It is in your interest to correct the obvious anti-Palestinian slant of this coverage. Journalists are weighing on in this subject at a time when young people, in particular, trust established news organizations less and less. Your credibility is at stake, and it is not going well.
By the time you published this report, more Palestinians than Israelis had been killed in this week’s violence: now more than 1,800 Palestinians killed by Israel, and the number daily rises by the hundreds. Your emphasis on Israeli losses will be read as lopsided, i.e. racist.
You need to add clear reference to the number of Palestinians killed, and to accord commensurate attention to Palestinian outrage at the institutional silence on this.
If, for example, you insist on quoting a paid pro-Israel staffer like Avishai Infeld asking for a “clear condemnation of the terrorism,” by which is plainly meant Palestinian attacks on Israeli civilians, you must ask if he clearly condemns Israeli attacks on Palestinian civilians.
Anything less is a journalistic failure that jeopardizes your standing. 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