The Media Accountability Project  

Major media outlets, from the Globe and Mail and CNN to BBC and The New York Times reported on the findings of a 300-page report published by the Civil Commission on October 7 Crimes by Hamas Against Women and Children, an Israeli non-profit founded in 2023. The report, titled “Silenced No More Sexual Terror Unveiled: The Untold Atrocities of October 7 and Against Hostages in Captivity,” claims to document evidence gathered through more than 430 interviews conducted over the past two years with alleged survivors, witnesses, returned hostages, and family members. It alleges that Hamas militants perpetrated systematic, widespread, and calculated sexual and gender-based violence during the October 7, 2023 attacks. Continue reading

On April 30, 2026, CJPME responded to the call for input from the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, Francesca Albanese, on the role of media in the context of Israel’s policies and practices toward the Palestinian people, especially after 7 October 2023. The call will inform an upcoming report to the UN by the Special Rapporteur. Continue reading

The aim of this essay is to examine the misleading use of the term “prisoner” to describe Palestinians who are illegally abducted by Israel and subjected to severe human rights abuses inside Israeli prisons.  Continue reading

Updated September 18, 2024 Background In the aftermath of Israel’s military response to the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, a wave of pro-Palestinian protests and demonstrations swept across the globe. Canada, with its sizable Middle Eastern diaspora, was no exception. A notable feature of this mobilization was the emergence of pro-Palestinian encampments on university campuses in several major cities, including Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver. These encampments, often established in high-traffic public spaces, served as hubs for community organizing, solidarity-building, and advocacy for Palestinian rights. They also became focal points for tensions between pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli groups. As students return to campus and demonstrations recommence, Zionist vigilante groups have begun organizing counterprotests and “patrols” on university campuses and at Palestine protests. At the time of writing, media coverage of these Zionist patrols has been relatively limited in quantity and scope. Journalists have not discussed the more controversial elements and generally provided sympathetic descriptions of the groups, even inappropriately describing them reductively as “safety” and “security” patrols. This essay is intended to help journalists understand the origins, beliefs, and tactics of these emerging groups, especially in the early phase of these developments. It will also provide an overview of the media coverage, which has fallen short of providing Canadian readers with a comprehensive analysis. Continue reading

Background In the summer of 2024, Gaza solidarity encampments were established worldwide on university campuses. Beginning in the US, media attention was focused sharply on the actions and demands of students. In Canada, the McGill University site was among the most discussed by traditional and social media platforms. This was likely due to McGill’s reputation and the protesters' success in delaying the school’s efforts to dismantle the camp. The McGill encampment lasted from April 27, 2024 to July 10, 2024, when it was demolished by a private security firm hired by McGill’s administration and aided by Montreal police. Across Canada, conspiracy theories about the encampment, namely accusing its participants and supporters of being funded by Iran, were rampant. The National Post and other PostMedia outlets regularly reported that the McGill University encampment was supported, in part, by Iran as part of a foreign interference campaign. In traditional media, talk radio and opinion columns were essential in promoting these narratives. Talk radio and op-eds are not subject to typical journalist standards and can perpetuate baseless claims without meaningful professional consequences. Continue reading

The B'nai Brith “Annual Audit of Antisemitic Incidents” has been a media focal point in coverage of antisemitic incidents in Canada. However, several criticisms have been raised regarding the report's methodology, accuracy, and broader implications that should give journalists pause before citing it. It is important to note that the annual audits are not exhaustive. They include only a small sampling of examples, the vast majority of the data is unavailable for verification. The fact that so many of the small sample of examples are highly questionable is concerning. Journalists frequently state the findings of the Audit without skepticism or context so that readers can better judge the reliability of these findings. Of the limited public data that B'nai Brith makes available, a significant portion of those examples describe anti-Zionist actions or phrases as antisemitism. This is not a minor problem with the report but appears to be part of its fundamental purpose: to conflate anti-Zionism and antisemitism in an effort to silence critics of Israel. B'nai Brith is a pro-Israel advocacy organization, after all. Continue reading

Mainstream media outlets in Canada have a history of being reluctant to use the word Palestine. Some never use the word at all, opting instead to only talk about “Palestinians” while excluding their land. While using the phrase “Occupied Palestinian Territories” is increasingly more common, sometimes the media will drop the “occupied” qualifier, which creates its own set of issues. While there is an uptick in outlets plainly referring to “Palestine,” hesitation persists. The hesitation is not random. It is the result of a sustained campaign by pro-Israel advocacy groups to muddy the history of Palestine and attempt to delegitimize its history. These efforts have been remarkably successful and even go against the beliefs of the earliest Zionists who recognized that the region was home to an indigenous population and that the Zionist project was a colonialist endeavor. As colonialism’s history has been rightly criticized, Israel has tried to distance itself from that framework, which led to the attempt to not only dispute Palestinian indigeneity and history, but to even argue the very name “Palestine” is illegitimate and a purely modern invention. Continue reading

Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) expresses deep concern over the inconsistent media coverage of the Gaza-Israel war since October 7, 2023. CJPME has been closely following the reporting in Canada media over the past week, and is aware of many instances in which news coverage has failed to be consistent in upholding professional journalistic standards.  CJPME provides the following critiques of the media response of the past week, and recommendations for future coverage: Guidelines to journalists 1. Show sensitivity when interviewing Palestinians impacted directly by the conflict.  CJPME has been contacted by many members of the media seeking individuals impacted by  the war. CJPME has worked hard to connect the media with members of the Palestinian community, both in Canada and in Palestine. CJPME understands the urgency and importance of such requests, but suggests greater sensitivity on the part of the media: Continue reading

In their coverage of Palestine–Israel, the media will often use the terminology preferred by Israel, rather than using terminology which is respectful or cognizant of Palestinian perspectives. Nowhere is this more evident than in the way most media have broadly adopted the term “Israeli Arab” – propagated by Israel – to describe “Palestinian citizens of Israel.” As described below, for a number of reasons, international media should cease describing Palestinian citizens of Israel in this way. 1. Across the board, Arab and Middle East journalist associations recommend using “Palestinian citizens of Israel.” When media outlets uncritically repeat Government of Israel nomenclature calling Palestinian citizens of Israel “Israeli Arabs,” they bolster Israeli attempts to downplay their Palestinian identity and indigeneity. This is inappropriate and disrespectful. Across the board, Arab, Middle East, and international journalist associations all recommend “Palestinian citizens of Israel” as the appropriate term to describe Palestinians with Israeli citizenship: Continue reading

In media reporting on Israel’s current coalition government, journalists will occasionally provide a brief description of certain parties as ‘far-right’ or ‘ultra-nationalist.’ However, media reports rarely go further to include information about their stated goals and ideology, particularly on the issue of Palestinian self-determination. This leads to misunderstandings about the Israeli government’s intentions towards the Palestinians, the status of the peace process, and the very possibility of a two-state solution. Note that media’s failure to examine the core positions of Israel’s governing parties stands in stark contrast to the media’s reductive descriptions of Palestinian liberation movements, as pointed out in CJPME’s other essay, “What Palestinian Groups Really Seek.”[1] CJPME encourages journalists to include greater description, like the context provided below, in their reporting on the Israeli government and its constituent political parties. In addition to specific information about individual parties and their leaders, reporting should note that the coalition itself is explicitly committed to the denial of Palestinian self-determination. Continue reading