The Media Accountability Project  

"I understand the challenge of conveying complex motivations in a limited word count. Still, a more detailed description of the strike’s aims would provide readers with a clearer understanding of student intentions and allow for more informed public discourse."

"To make matters worse, you fail to mention that his arrest was the result of a legal action by Dahlia Kurtz, a pro-Israel activist who has explicitly promoted genocide and made numerous blatant racist remarks about Palestinians."

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.

"A fair-minded column about free speech on campus should at least note Yousef’s numerous statements that promote violence against Muslims. Wiseman’s column reads as hollow and disingenuous. There are debates to be had about controversial speakers and free speech on campus, but Wiseman is exploiting these legitimate questions to lend legitimacy to professionalized Islamophobia."

"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."

"Your willingness to revisit initial assumptions is a commendable example of responsible journalism. As Hadi Hassan, a journalist with TVA reported, a tear gas grenade—a SKAT SHELL CS cartridge deployed by police—likely caused the vehicle fire. Video evidence and images by the reporter supports this possibility, and the SPVM itself stated the incident is under investigation."

"I urge you to explain to your readers that for more than a year, Israel’s genocidal actions in occupied Gaza have led to the deaths of over 43,972 Palestinians, with many still trapped under the rubble of bombed homes and tents. The official death toll is now outdated, and the UN Human Rights Office's report indicates that a majority of the fatalities in the first six months of Israel’s genocidal actions in occupied Gaza were women and children."

"These kinds of exclusions, when repeated, become dehumanizing, as the implicit message is that Palestinian and Lebanese civilians who are victims of Israeli attacks don’t matter and can be ignored. Meanwhile, Israeli deaths are framed as more deserving of coverage, receiving more focus and emotional weight. This selective empathy has no place in reporting."

"Hezbollah’s capabilities, while destructive, pale in comparison. Israel has caused immeasurable suffering to all of Lebanon, not just Hezbollah militants. The absence of this context reinforces a narrative that solely focuses on Hezbollah’s actions while overlooking the long-standing history of Israeli military aggression in Lebanon."

"While I don’t expect the Gazette to include all of this context in their reporting, I do insist that your newsroom tries to avoid perpetuating harmful and reductive narratives that present Palestinians and their supporters as ‘threats,’ while portraying pro-Israel groups as more defensive and self-preserving."