The Media Accountability Project  

On March 26, 2026, Dorotea Gucciardo, the Director of Development of Glia Equal Care, a medical solidarity organization that has worked in Gaza, was invited on CBC Radio One in Victoria, British Columbia. She spoke about her experience visiting hospitals in the Gaza strip. During the interview, she described the mass graves she saw near the hospitals:

In May of 2024, I witnessed what it means to have the Israeli army take a hospital out of commission. I visited Nasser Hospital, which is in Khan Yunis in the south of Gaza, a few weeks after the Israeli army had besieged it and withdrawn. And when I walked through, I saw that they had broken all of the equipment, they smashed every single screen, they broke all of the incubators. I mean, incubators are where the sickest babies receive care. Windows, walls, everything was smashed in. They buried Palestinians dead and alive on the hospital grounds. When I was there, they had uncovered three mass graves and were in the process of uncovering another one. And prior to leaving, they set the building on fire. I felt like I was walking through a historical photograph—we're not supposed to see these things today. These are crimes against humanity. (Emphasis added; transcript edited for clarity.)

Following the interview, Honest Reporting Canada (HRC) launched a campaign, condemning CBC for interviewing Ms. Gucciardo and accusing her of making false statements.

HRC complained that Gucciardo spoke about the “non-existent ‘genocide’ in Gaza” without pushback from CBC. However, HRC also challenged Gucciardo’s remarks about Nasser Hospital, calling her remarks “rambling accusations.” 

Despite UN statements and media reports, including by CBC itself, the public broadcaster aired a ‘correction’ regarding Nasser Hospital, claiming that aspects of Dorotea Gucciardo’s comments had “no substance:”

We would like to correct some information shared on the program at this time last Thursday. We were speaking with a representative of Glia Equal Care, a healthcare non-profit that is working in Gaza. During the live interview, the representative claimed the Israel Defense Forces soldiers had created a mass grave at Nasser Hospital in the spring of 2024. Part of the accusation is that some of the people were buried and were buried alive by IDF personnel. Further research by CBC Manitoba revealed there is no substance to this claim. We also contacted the Israel Defense Forces directly. 

They provided this statement by spokesperson Nadav Shoshani:

"Misinformation quote is circulating regarding a mass grave that was discovered at Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis. The grave in question was dug by Gazans a few months ago. This fact is corroborated by social media documentation uploaded by Gazans at the time of the burial. Any attempt to blame Israel for burying civilians in mass graves is categorically false and a mere example of disinformation campaign aimed at delegitimizing Israel.”

After CBC caved to the HRC campaign, CJPME filed a complaint.

CBC producer Melanie Verhaeghe acknowledged the merits of our complaint, writing that “the wording [CBC] initially used should not have been so conclusive.” CBC published an addendum to their Corrections and Clarifications page that reads:

CBC News corrected a story that aired March 26 with a representative of Glia Equal Care, a health-care non-profit working in Gaza. During the live interview, the representative said Israel Defence Force (IDF) soldiers had buried people alive in mass graves at Nasser hospital in spring 2024. CBC News has not independently verified this claim. Some major non-governmental and humanitarian organizations have called for an investigation, while the IDF says "any attempt to blame Israel for burying civilians in mass graves is categorically false." On-air corrections were broadcast.

While it constitutes another impact by CJPME on the media, from a media accountability perspective, the clarification is incomplete and problematic. 

The clarification doesn’t do enough to walk back the serious issues with their original on-air correction. There are numerous issues at play:

• Given the fact that Ms. Gucciardo was not informed of the correction prior to its broadcast, it remains unprofessional for a newsroom to publicly discredit the testimony of an interviewee with comments by the IDF, while not giving the interviewee an opportunity to respond or provide clarification.
• This process raises concerns about the fair treatment of sources critical of Israel by the CBC and risks discouraging future firsthand testimony, particularly from expert perspectives reporting on conditions in Gaza.
• The corrections omit Israel’s role in preventing investigations into its war crimes in Gaza.
• The correction frames evidence and statements by the United Nations regarding mass graves as coming from “major non-governmental and humanitarian organizations.” Referring to the UN merely as a “non-governmental organization” downplays its significance. By calling it an NGO, CBC Manitoba avoids naming the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, which has released a statement reporting claims of Palestinians being buried alive. 
• Why is CBC airing corrections based on the vague and unsubstantiated claims of the pro-Israel lobby in the first place, and racing to get comment from the Israeli military when they aren’t sure? The process is highly alarming.

CBC audiences are not provided with the full scope of information necessary to understand the seriousness and credibility of the allegations. As a result, the issue is presented as speculative rather than as part of an ongoing and evidence-backed concern warranting investigation.

Furthermore, the impact of the initial correction cannot be easily undone. The original statement was definitive in tone, asserting the IDF’s perspective that there was “no substance” to the claim, and it was delivered on-air in a format that audiences typically perceive as authoritative and final. 

CJPME is somewhat relieved that CBC acknowledged aspects of its errors, but we remain alarmed by the process through which these corrections were broadcast and published.

"In its correction, CBC Manitoba stated that there was no substance to the claim that Palestinians may have been buried alive. However, the correction relies on a statement from the Israeli military denying claims of IDF members burying Palestinian civilians."

"If you are going to essentially profile Mr. East and provide a platform to express his perspective of events, you ought to report a full, fair, and balanced picture of who he is. This is not the first time CBC Manitoba has written on Mr. East, and thus far, it has failed to provide meaningful context about his work."