The Media Accountability Project  

On March 12, 2025, CJPME media analyst Anthony Issa submitted a formal letter to Toronto Star, challenging its misleading framing of the October 7 attacks in an article titled “Toronto police apologize to Jewish community after backlash to podcast episode”. The letter criticized the article’s opening claim that “On Oct. 7, Hamas attacked a music festival in Israel”, which falsely suggested that the Nova music festival was the primary target of the attack.

Following CJPME’s intervention, Toronto Star revised the passage to acknowledge that the attack occurred at multiple locations.

The updated version reads:

“On Oct. 7, Hamas attacked a music festival in Israel. A total of 1,200 people were killed and 250 abducted in the attack that day that included other locations including several communities.”

While this correction is a step in the right direction, the article still misleads readers by maintaining the festival as the primary reference point. As reported by Haaretz, Israeli security officials have acknowledged that Hamas did not plan in advance to attack the festival but only learned of it during the assault.

Although the framing is still misleading by overly focusing the events of Oct. 7 on the Nova music festival, we believe this outcome highlights the importance of our work in pushing for proper for ongoing media accountability in Canadian news coverage of Palestine.

CJPME remains committed to ensuring that Canadian media does not distort Israel’s brutal military siege and genocide on the Gaza strip following the events of Oct. 7.

"While it is true that civilians were killed at the Nova music festival, the attack occurred across multiple locations, including military bases and settlements near the Gaza border. By narrowing the focus to a music festival, the article distorts the broader context of the attack and implies that it was solely an assault on a cultural event rather than part of a larger confrontation between Hamas and Israel."

"Your reporter Ms. Yourex-West describes Gaza as “flattened” and homes as “in ruins” but never says "who" caused this destruction. The result of this nightmare is Israel’s relentless bombardment and siege. This exclusion is irresponsible and goes against journalistic standards. Imagine reporting on Hiroshima’s destruction without mentioning that the United States dropped the atomic bomb—that’s exactly what’s happening here. This segment effectively whitewashes Israel’s deliberate destruction of Gaza."

Let’s go back to Journalism 101—every story needs the 5 W’s + H (Who, What, Where, Why, When, How). So why is the WHO—the key actors behind this policy change—nowhere to be found in your reporting?

In a recent update to its article, "Regina council approves revised flag-raising policy," SaskToday has included key missing details that were excluded from its original publication. This was done after Media Analyst Anthony Issa raised concerns about SaskToday’s incomplete reporting on Thursday January 30th regarding Regina’s flag-raising policy.

Initially, SaskToday framed Regina’s flag-raising policy change as a routine administrative decision, without mentioning the controversy that led to it: the mayor’s decision to block the Palestinian flag-raising—despite the Israeli flag being flown without issue. Public backlash over this double standard was a driving force behind the policy revision, and this context is essential for readers to understand the motivations behind the change.

This revision is a significant step forward in providing a more accurate account of the policy change.

However, the updated article still fails to mention that Regina city officials received a flood of emails, including threats and graphic images of dead bodies, pressuring them to cancel the Palestinian flag-raising. This exclusion is not minor and it conceals the external pressures that shaped the city's decision and limits the public’s understanding of what truly led to the policy change.

While this update is a positive development, we will continue to push for full transparency so that readers get the complete story.

Stay tuned.

"It is deeply concerning that SaskToday chose to exclude this information, as it demonstrates the extent of external political pressure that influenced Regina’s leadership."

In a recent article, "CBC caves to far-left pressure, issues 'correction' on Israel-Hamas 'genocide' claim," Rebel News inadvertently acknowledged the impact of CJPME’s Media Accountability Project (MAP) in pushing CBC toward greater accountability in its coverage of Palestine

The article confirms that MAP’s advocacy led CBC to clarify its editorial stance on the term genocide when describing Israel’s actions in Gaza. While Rebel News framed this as CBC capitulating to “anti-Israel pressure,” the reality is that our efforts successfully challenged CBC’s editorial policies, ensuring that Palestinian voices and perspectives are taken seriously.

Ironically, Rebel News even quoted directly from our media alert—clear proof that MAP’s work is being closely watched by Canadian media outlets across the political spectrum. Their coverage amplifies the effectiveness of our campaign and reinforces the necessity of media accountability initiatives like MAP.

This is yet another example of how grassroots media advocacy can drive real change.

"Mr. Dhaliwal’s article inadvertently highlights the effectiveness of MAP’s work. He directly copies and pastes quotes from our media alert into his piece, proving that Rebel News is paying attention to our efforts whether their team admits it or not."

"Therefore, the use of terms like “terrorist hostages” to describe these detainees is deeply offensive and misleading, given that many are arrested for acts of political resistance or for no discernible reason beyond their identity. It is why readers deserve an explanation of why Smotrich’s language is racist and deflects criticism of Israeli apartheid. The Toronto Star needs to provide readers with this context."

"It is irresponsible for CP to exclude Syrian perspectives of concern regarding HTS and Turkey’s warm relationship. Journalistic skepticism should interrogate how Turkey's actions are shaping Syria’s political future and whether such actions genuinely serve the interests of stability and self-determination. By failing to provide this context, CP risks legitimizing a geopolitical strategy that disregards Syrian sovereignty, Kurdish autonomy, and international law."