The Media Accountability Project  

"Your coverage should have explicitly stated that Israel is using starvation as a weapon of war, which is in blatant violation of international law. Omitting this context risks normalizing Israel’s war crimes and crimes against humanity. Please keep in mind that my feedback is offered in good faith, with the intention of holding media accountable in its coverage of Israel’s ongoing genocide against Palestinians."

"While your coverage mentions Israel’s blockade on the occupied Gaza Strip, it fails to mention that this practice constitutes a crime against humanity, defying one of the six provisional measures issued by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in January 2024, which explicitly requires Israel to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza (Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in the Gaza Strip [South Africa v. Israel], Order of 26 January 2024)."

"The accusation of alleged Hamas members in UNRWA has been proven baseless months ago. According to UNRWA themselves, they have not received any specific allegations regarding systemic diversion of aid in Gaza by Hamas or other armed groups. Should it be revealed to be the case, UNRWA has stated it would strongly condemn any diversion of humanitarian supplies. UNRWA's distribution of aid is implemented through a robust system of oversight and checks, ensuring the safety and appropriate use of the aid."

"Given that both Hamas and Hezbollah hold elected political roles, and that Canada does not classify the Houthis as a terrorist group, I request that you promptly issue an on-air correction to more accurately reflect the political and legal status of these groups. It is the responsibility of media outlets to ensure that coverage remains factual, nuanced, and free from biased terminology."

On April 26, 2024, CJPME sent a letter to CityNews Toronto, pushing the media outlet to make changes regarding an article about MPP Sarah Jama being asked to leave the Ontario legislature for defying the keffiyeh ban.

CJPME wrote that the article did not provide an adequate description of the keffiyeh’s historical and cultural significance for Palestinians among other things.

CJPME took an issue with one sentence, among others, of CityNews describing the keffiyeh as “a black and white checkered scarf.” CJPME argued that “checkered scarf” and “Black-and-white scarves” are terms extensively used in racist contexts on social media, such as Twitter (formerly X). CJPME also suggested and included an accurate description of the keffiyeh.

CJPME, among other things, asked CityNews to update the “black and white checkered scarf” to simply “keffiyeh,” as it can be deeply offensive to Palestinians and their allies to use reductive terms to allude to the keffiyeh.

Following our letter, CityNews changed the words “black and white checkered scarf” to “keffiyeh” as requested.

While other issues were not acknowledged by CityNews, such as referring to the keffiyeh as “the scarf” and “cultural cloth,” it is encouraging that CityNews will change the most problematic reference to the keffiyeh to the suggested edit. It can serve as a precedent to challenge other media outlets using the same descriptors.

"Please update “the scarf,” “cultural cloth,” and “black and white checkered scarf” to simply “keffiyeh,” as it can be deeply offensive to Palestinians and their allies to use reductive terms to allude to the keffiyeh without providing any proper description of it, especially amidst the rise of anti-Palestinian racism."

"Since your article is about a hate crime, a 63-year-old man ripping a Palestinian flag off a vehicle and leaving an offensive note in Pickering, it would be more precise to include a reference to “anti-Palestinian racism.” 

"Accuracy demands that you clearly distinguish between East and West Jerusalem and refer to “occupied” or "annexed” sites (e.g., Al-Aqsa) when discussing East Jerusalem."

"Your segment fails to clarify that the West Bank is “occupied.” It has become a near-universal journalistic standard that the West Bank be qualified as “occupied” in reporting, as its exclusion obscures important power dynamics at play."

"The article does not clarify that it is illegal according to international law for Israelis to settle anywhere in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, including but not limited to Area C. The repetitive focus on Area C further obscures this fact."