The Media Accountability Project  

Misleading framing and balance concerns in TIFF coverage

Using the words “retaliatory offensive” is irresponsible and grossly misleading. Killing 65,000 people and starving 2 million is not retaliatory. It is pure genocidal aggression and must be reported as such. 

Dear Nicole Thompson and The Toronto Star newsroom,

I am writing on behalf of Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) regarding the article “‘The Road Between Us’ Oct. 7 film wins TIFF documentary People’s Choice Award” by Nicole Thompson (CP) published by The Toronto Star on September 16, 2025.

I thank you for this fairly balanced article that covers the People’s Choice award for documentary at TIFF but I want to offer a couple pieces of critical context that are omitted from this story.

For a long time now it’s been standard practice for the media to mention the October 7th attack and hostages first, then the massive Palestinian death toll later in the article. Given that the situation has become so extreme, the Star and CP should also be mentioning the forced starvation of Palestinians by Israel, mass illegal detentions and torture by Israel, and the killing of health care workers and journalists by Israel.  

Israel’s relentless assault on Gaza is now recognized by many scholars, UN experts, and humanitarian organizations as a genocide, but this article shows the Star and CP cling to an unfair and unbalanced style of reporting that does not give readers an accurate picture. Rigorous journalism must reflect these horrible new realities and the intolerable suffering of the Palestinian people cruelly imposed upon them by Israel. 

Will The Star and CP commit to update their reporting to reflect the starvation and genocide of Palestinians imposed by Israel and giving that precedence over the October 7th attack? 

This imbalance is again reflected in the article's closing line: “Protesters decried the decision to reinstate the film, saying it amounted to ‘Israeli propaganda’ that could be used to justify that country’s retaliatory offensive.”

Using the words “retaliatory offensive” is irresponsible and grossly misleading. Killing 65,000 people and starving 2 million is not retaliatory. It is pure genocidal aggression and must be reported as such. 

Thank you for reading and I hope you will correct your reporting to accurately reflect the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza.  

Jeff Winch

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