Media outlets have a responsibility to distinguish fact from assertions, and provide adequate, balanced context to the reader.
Dear Brandon Sun and Associated Press editorial newsrooms,
I’m writing on behalf of Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME, https://www.cjpme.org) to express serious concerns about the article titled “Israeli drone strike kills 2 cyclists” published today in the print issue of the Sun.
Firstly, although the title, truncated by the Brandon Sun, correctly names Israel as the perpetrator of the drone strike, it omits the identity of the victims. The title should refer to the victims as Palestinians, or at least indicate that the strike was in Gaza.
Secondly, given that “Israel’s military did not immediately respond to questions about either strike” why would the writers attempt to justify Israel’s actions by stating “It has previously said its forces respond to ceasefire violations or attacks on its soldiers”? To ensure balance and accuracy in reporting on such unverified claims/allegations by Israel, the latter sentence should either be deleted or replaced with “It has previously claimed its forces respond to ceasefire violations or attacks on its soldiers”. Media outlets have a responsibility to distinguish fact from assertions, and provide adequate, balanced context to the reader.
Thirdly, why does this article use “Hamas-led” when describing the government under which the Gaza Health Ministry operates? In Canada, the press would not use “Liberal-led” in the same manner; I have also never seen the press use “Likud-led” in describing any of Israel’s ministries or government. The use of “Hamas-led” is not only unnecessary, it is also a form of anti-Palestinian racism as defined by the Arab Canadians Lawyer Association. This type of framing is intended to cast doubt on Palestinian perspectives including institutional publications such as the Health Ministry’s statistics, which, the article points out, are “seen as generally reliable by UN agencies and international experts”. Recently, the Israeli army has even publicly accepted the accuracy of the Palestinian Ministry of Health’s death toll figures in Gaza, after years of manufacturing doubt on their reporting - yet the article fails to mention this.
Fourthly, and along the same line, in stating “But [the Gaza Health Ministry] does not give a breakdown of civilians and militants”, the article further casts doubt on the death toll. In fact, casualty numbers provided by the Gaza Ministry of Health to the UN are clearly disaggregated by sex and age, and as of February 4th, 2026, 20,179 children, 10,427 women, 4,813 elderly, and 31,754 men, have been killed in Gaza since October 7, 2023.
I kindly urge the Brandon Sun and AP to correct the article accordingly, in order to align with the Canadian Association of Journalists ethics guidelines and standards of balance and accuracy.
Sincerely,
Alison Jenkins