Following CJPME and local pressure, CBC removes reference to Waterloo encampment as “security concern”
On September 5, 2024, CJPME sent a letter to CBC News to raise concerns about an article entitled: “The University of Waterloo debuts new campus emergency alert system for 2024 fall semester,” published on September 4, 2024.
The article reported on safety concerns on campus, framing both a violent stabbing and a pro-Palestine encampment as threats. The description was based on the comments of the university president, Vivek Goel. However, the president did not describe the pro-Palestine encampment as a security threat, but as a “difficult debate.”
CBC’s article unfairly conflated a violent stabbing and a peaceful protest by misrepresenting the comments of the Goel.
By grouping these events together under the same discussion of "safety concerns," the article subtly implies a connection between them, which could unfairly suggest that the peaceful protest contributed to the university’s safety concerns. This perpetuates dangerous tropes about Palestinians and their supporters as inherently violent or terrorist supporters.
CJPME expressed our concerns in a tweet and a letter to CBC News. After seeing our tweet, Waterloo’s Neighbors 4 Palestine, a local group, echoed our concerns. Following the pressure, the article was updated, removing any suggestion that the encampment was a security risk.
CBC’s Sr. Manager of Journalistic Standards & Public Trust also added an Editor’s Note that reads,
"An earlier version of this story collated unrelated events on the university campus. It has been edited to more clearly reflect the context and nature of each event."
As Lauren Weinberg, a member of Independent Jewish Voices, wrote on behalf of Waterloo's Neighbors 4 Palestine:
“Although, as the story notes, President Goel mentioned both of these events in his YouTube video, CBC-KW has a responsibility to put them in appropriate context for its readers and listeners. It is misleading and harmful to link the encampment—which never endangered the UW community, and which provided many opportunities for students to learn and gather together—with the hate-motivated June 2023 stabbing, which severely injured two students and a professor."
This outcome demonstrates the importance of media advocacy and highlights the broader role that community voices play in challenging harmful narratives in the media.