The Media Accountability Project  

On November 6, 2024, CJPME sent a letter to National Post regarding an inaccuracy in their article titled “UN Palestine official says Israeli soldiers are 'wilful executioners of an extermination plan.'” The article incorrectly stated that “Albanese’s lecture at the McGill University law school about international law and genocide was cancelled." However, Albanese’s lecture was not canceled but instead relocated to another building.

Several tweets about the event, along with a statement from Law Students for Palestine at Mcgill, confirm that the lecture was indeed held as scheduled, debunking the false claims of its cancellation. We urged the National Post to correct this oversight for the sake of transparency for their audience.

The article was updated on Friday, November 15 with an editor’s note that reads:

An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that Alabanese’s speech at McGill University was cancelled. It was actually relocated to the student union building at the last minute after the law school withdrew its support. National Post regrets the error.

Despite initial delays in response, we appreciate that the National Post ultimately engaged with us and made the necessary correction.

CJPME continues to pressure the media to ensure that all reporting adheres to the standards of accuracy and fairness outlined by the Canadian Association of Journalists.

"Despite your radio-silence Mr. Roberts, I appreciate the fact that you read my letters. I sincerely hope that my concerns, even if you believe them to be in bad faith, help you reflect on your publications' bottom line."

"Several tweets about the event, along with a statement from Law Students for Palestine at Mcgill, confirm that the lecture was indeed held as scheduled, debunking the false claims of its cancellation. We strongly urge you to correct this error and issue a clarification that the McGill lecture was indeed held as planned, ensuring accuracy in your reporting."

"The National Post recently published a highly inflammatory article calling for Canada to bar Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on Palestinian human rights, from entering the country. The article frames Albanese's documented advocacy for Palestinian rights as antisemitic and only includes one-sided quotes from pro-Israel figures to revoke her diplomatic immunity and UN mandate."

"If there is substantiated evidence to support these severe allegations against Albanese, then it is your obligation to present it transparently. Otherwise, this article amounts to little more than an attempt to vilify a UN human rights official solely for her outspoken support of Palestinian rights—a tactic that qualifies as anti-Palestinian racism (APR) as rigorously defined by the Arab Canadian Lawyers Association (ACLA)."

After a successful Media Alert campaign, the National Post issued a correction of its disinformation regarding the death of former senior Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.

Initially, the opinion piece by Vivian Bercovici falsely claimed that Sinwar's body was found with an UNRWA identity card, a baseless assertion without credible evidence. This defamatory accusation aimed to malign the UN's relief agency and create misleading associations between humanitarian aid organizations and Hamas. The correction was prompted by a combination of CJPME's alert, complaints by Media Responders, and public call-outs. The result reinforces the value that grassroots flak has in challenging unfair media narratives and false claims about Palestinians.

Not only did the National Post correct the error, it has now added an editorial note:

This column has been updated to remove the incorrect claim that the body of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was not found with an UNRWA identity card.

However, CJPME did not initially notice that the editor's note itself, as seen above, introduced an error, as it suggests Sinwar was "not" found with an UNRWA identity card. In a follow-up with National Post's Editor-in-Chief, CJPME forced another update to resolve the issue. The editor's note now reads:

Editor’s note: This column has been updated to remove the incorrect claim that the body of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was found with an UNRWA identity card.

CJPME is grateful for its dedicated Media Responders for their ongoing persistence. These coordinated efforts of solidarity highlight that we can hold media accountable and combat one-sided narratives on Palestine.  If you are not already signed up, please become a Media Responder by clicking here.

The National Post's amendment, although important, should serve as a reminder that there are rules to free speech. Legacy papers must live up to their standards and disinformation is never acceptable even if it advances your editorial line. 

[Page updated on November 11, 2024]

"Ms. Robinson omits that her dismissal was not for 'impolitic words,' but rather due to public backlash over her dismissive and racist remarks about historic Palestine, where she referred to it as 'a crappy piece of land with nothing on it.'"

"As the National Post is a member of Canada’s National NewsMedia Council, it is expected that your newsroom provides stories that are factually correct. I urge you to clarify Samidoun’s advocacy efforts and avoid the misleading term “anti-Israel” in order to correctly portray the pro-Palestinian solidarity movement in Canada. Unless the National Post has a mandate to actively contribute to furthering harmful stereotypes and defamatory statements against Palestinians and their allies, I suggest corrections be duly made."

"The article inaccurately claims that Hamas's operation on October 7 killed "more than 1,200 civilians. This is incorrect. According to Haaretz, 1,105 individuals were killed. This included 851 civilians (including 59 from the police force and 13 from the emergency services) and 368 IDF soldiers. This distinction between civilians and soldiers is critical, and misrepresenting these numbers grossly misleads readers as Mr. Hopper inflates civilian casualties on Oct.7."

In her opinion piece, former Canadian ambassador to Israel Vivian Bercovici makes numerous misleading claims regarding the circumstances surrounding the death of Yahya Sinwar. However, the most libellous statement was her inclusion of a debunked claim that Sinwar was carrying an UNRWA identity card, despite no credible evidence from reliable sources confirming this.