The Media Accountability Project  

On May 14, 2025, the Hamilton Spectator published a letter to the editor by CJPME Media Analyst Anthony Issa in response to Gwynne Dyer’s column, “India and Israel are on parallel tracks.” While Dyer’s article introduced important comparisons between Kashmir and Palestine, CJPME’s letter expanded the conversation by challenging oversimplified portrayals of resistance and emphasizing the structural violence and settler-colonialism underlying both conflicts.

The letter drew attention to the risks of describing groups like Hamas or Kashmiri militants as having “triggered” war, without naming the long-standing conditions of occupation, apartheid, and denial of political autonomy that give rise to resistance. It also urged Canadian media to move beyond surface-level analysis and center the voices of those directly affected.

CJPME applauds the Hamilton Spectator for publishing the letter and will continue pushing for Palestinian perspectives in Canadian media coverage.

Click here to access the letter on our website.

While Dyer rightly notes the strategic logic of asymmetric warfare, framing groups like Hamas or Kashmiri militants as having “triggered” war risks obscuring the long-standing conditions of structural violence (mass surveillance, apartheid, crushing of political autonomy) that shape their right to resist.

At the end of February, the Executive Director of Spheres of Influence—a non-profit digital publication dedicated to highlighting underreported global issues and amplifying marginalized voices—reached out to one of our media analysts, Lynn Naji, for a written interview.

The piece, titled "Exposing the Narrative: The Fight for Fair Reporting on Palestine," explores some of the most common patterns of bias in Canadian media coverage of Palestine, particularly the ongoing genocide in Gaza. Lynn reflects on CJPME’s media advocacy, how public pressure can help shift narratives, and some of the challenges involved in pushing for fair and accurate reporting.

The interview closes with a reflection on the ethical responsibilities of journalists working within institutions that suppress Palestinian voices:

“Journalists who recognize the bias in their institutions but continue complying with editorial restrictions must ask themselves difficult questions. If a newsroom actively silences Palestinian voices, at what point does self-preservation become complicity?”

You can read the interview here.

"Benlolo’s recent opinion piece is just another example of the sustained campaign by pro-Israel advocacy groups to muddy the history of Palestine and attempt to delegitimize its history. The article is riddled with hateful falsehoods that must be challenged, below are just a few."