On August 22, 2023, the CBC’s Information Morning, a Radio One program based in Halifax, aired an interview with Yara Jamal of Free Palestine Halifax about a new book club on Palestine. The segment was subsequently posted on the CBC’s national website, as well as Information Morning’s webpage. However, hours later, CJPME learned that the segment had been unpublished, a grave violation of CBC’s own policies.
CJPME is proud to report that following a formal letter of complaint, as well as multiple letters of concern submitted by MAP Media Responders, the CBC republished the segment online.
During the interview, Jamal spoke powerfully about the political importance of the book club, her identity as a Palestinian, and Israel’s apartheid policies. Here is an excerpt:
“The more people know about Palestine, the more I feel like I have done something. If I can reach one person, one person can be someone else. I've done my part — I've done my duty as a Palestinian as long as people continue to talk about Palestine, so it's not forgotten, not just by Palestinians, not just by Middle Easterners or Muslims or whatever- as long as Palestine is a topic of discussion….
“Honestly, just open up your hearts. There are kids involved, whether it's Israeli children or Palestinian children- it doesn't matter, those are children who are involved.
“Also, use the resources that you're so privileged to have — whether it's social media, the internet, the news, whatever it is because reputable human rights organizations have called it apartheid. So those are not my words.”
CJPME believes this is a major victory in holding the media to account.
To listen to the segment, click here.
To read CJPME’s formal complaint, click here.