The Media Accountability Project  

While I don’t excuse acts of vandalism nor do I want to assume that pro-Palestinian activists were involved, your story excludes Palestinian perspectives and fundamentally misleads readers about the nature of student activism. There is a clear form of suppression of dissent on campus and this omission reflects exclusion of Palestinian narratives and a prejudicial placement of viewpoints.

Forced population transfer is a massive violation of international law. The report fails to use clear language such as ethnic cleansing or forced displacement, despite the proposal clearly meeting that threshold. The failure to accurately label the redevelopment plan as such reflects a lack of journalistic precision and normalizes dehumanizing language against Palestinians.

The coverage is overwhelmingly centered on the Israeli perspective, with extensive reporting on Israeli hostages and their families while omitting mention of the thousands of Palestinian detainees, including children, held in Israeli prisons—many without charge or trial. This one-sided approach fails to provide viewers with a full and balanced picture of the hostage-detainee exchanges. Palestinian hostages deserve coverage equal to that given to Israeli hostages.

"Given this context, these detainees are not conventional prisoners and it’s better to describe them as hostages. This distinction is critical, as it challenges the implicit narrative that Palestinians in Israeli prisons have all been convicted of criminal offenses, when in reality, many are held without charge or trial. Reframing their status as hostages better reflects the power dynamics at play and highlights the broader context of occupation and human rights violations by Israel."

"By choosing to give a prominent, unchallenged platform to a pro-Israel lobby group while ignoring the very students responsible for negotiating the agreements, CTV News is effectively erasing Palestinian perspectives and perpetuating the racist trope that Palestinian activism is illegitimate, dangerous, or antisemitic by default."

"Le manque flagrant de contexte et d’équilibre dans votre reportage est une violation manifeste de principes journalistiques. En omettant de mentionner le génocide israélien en cours à Gaza—qui a fait plus de 50 000 morts palestiniens, causé une famine et vu Israël poursuivre ses bombardements malgré les appels au cessez-le-feu—votre émission participe à la désinformation et à la déshumanisation des Palestiniens."

"Every mention of an Israeli death is stated in active voice and Hamas is named as the perpetrator, whereas Palestinian deaths are mentioned in passive voice without assigning blame to Israel."

On December 3, 2024, CJPME media analyst Lynn Naji sent a letter to the Montreal Gazette regarding their one-sided article titled: “Quebec to probe rising tension at Dawson and Vanier over Israel-Gaza conflict.”

CJPME argued that the article does not provide sufficient context to understand why students at CEGEPs have been protesting on campuses.

Students have been striking in solidarity with the Palestinian movement in Canada. This includes a strategy of academic boycotts, walkouts and demonstrations against Israel's system of apartheid, its ongoing genocide in occupied Gaza and its brutality in the West Bank. The currentacademic boycott movement is also0an extension of the student encampments that occurred over the summer. CJPME argued that the article falls short of providing this necessary context.

Second, the article frames the pro-Palestine protests in a negative light. CJPME argued that the reporting would have been far more balanced had the Gazette included quotes from the student associations involved in the strike, or from an expert on Montreal’s history of student activism.  This would have offered a fair, balanced, and more nuanced reporting.

The following day, the article was updated to include the death toll resulting from Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza and quoted CJPME, debunking the harmful stereotypes that these protests are violent and disruptive.

This added context marks a significant win for CJPME’s Media accountability team which has been pushing for this contextualization of pro-Palestine protests by the Gazette for months. CJPME remains committed to holding Canadian media accountable and pressuring them to stop perpetuating harmful stereotypes surrounding pro-Palestine activism.

"This framing represents a one-sided reporting on the pro-Palestine protests happening. Generally, these protests are peaceful, yet they are often framed negatively, particularly by those seeking to discredit the movement. Though you mention that “spokespeople for Dawson and Vanier did not respond to requests for comment,” this does not absolve you from putting good faith effort to talk to students who are actually leading the pro-Palestine protests in CEGEPs."

"Toronto Sun reporter Bryan Passifiume fails to meet basic journalistic standards by sidelining diverse Jewish-Canadian perspectives. His coverage of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union's (OPSEU) decision to select Independent Jewish Voices (IJV) for antisemitism training amplifies pro-Israel voices while excluding balanced viewpoints."