The Media Accountability Project  

"You quote Zeid’s remark that “this conflict did not start on October 7th” without providing any context. A concerning trend we’ve been observing in Canadian media is the tendency to begin the timeline on October 7th, failing to acknowledge that for decades, Israeli settlers have looted Palestinian land, attacked civilians, and forcibly expelled Palestinians from their homeland."

« Alors que les démocraties occidentales se vantent fréquemment d'être des champions du respect et de la promotion des droits humains, votre article réfute cette présomption en démontrant qu'Israël, un État perçu comme une démocratie libérale, a violé de nombreux droits humains par ses actions génocidaires en Palestine »

"MacIntosh accuses Palestine activist Ramsey Zeid of being “on only one side,” yet her letter is also incredibly one-sided. By focusing exclusively on the actions of Hamas and ignoring Israel's military actions that has now killed 40,000 Palestinian civilians, she perpetuates a narrative that devalues Palestinian lives and dismisses their right to resist oppression. This selective empathy, which only acknowledges Israeli suffering while glossing over the far greater Palestinian suffering, is a form of anti-Palestinian racism."

"By paraphrasing and softening the students’ language, you are whitewashing Israel’s war crimes and downplaying the students' demands. Your sentence should rather read, 'students for Justice in Palestine called on the U of M to boycott Israeli institutions, disclose its investments and divest from any organizations complicit in the genocide against Palestinian people...'."

"The dinner you reported about featured a conversation with actress Mayim Bialik who identifies as a Zionist – a supporter of the Israeli colonial project to establish a Jewish national home by ethnically cleansing Palestinians from their homeland. The demonstrators were protesting against funding Israel’s colonial project, making this incident a case of anti-zionism, not antisemitism. Conflating anti-zionism with antisemitism is misleading and does not accurately represent the motivations behind such protests."

Bernstein falsely accuses the speech of being hateful and based on lies, which is simply not true. Dr Gem Newman's speech was fact-based. This is concerning and hurtful coming from a Professor from the valedictorian’s own faculty. Bernstein should side with his students instead of smearing and dismissing them.

"Opening your news segment with such a sentence implies a bias against the action of the protesters. It undermines the intentions behind the protest, which was to push the Canadian government to implement an arms embargo on Israel, because of Israel’s genocide in Gaza."

"Although your article is centered around the opening of the mosque in St. James, it would have been more appropriate to provide more details on Israel’s bombardment campaign since October 7 and exact language to describe the reality in Gaza. It would help your readers better understand the link between the opening of the mosque and the gripping time described by Ramsey Zeid."

"Overall, your article provides very little critical analysis of the antisemitism report you describe in your story. It comes across as a platform for pro-Israel groups who want to undermine the credibility and character of people who support Palestinian liberation and criticize Israel."

On January 23, the Editor of the Winnipeg Free Press informed CJPME that he changed a headline after a complaint. “Escaping the Gaza chaos” told the story of Israeli teenagers who left a town in northeastern Israel, the furthest point from Gaza in Israel. The story misleadingly described Israel as “war-torn” and portrayed Israelis as escaping the same kind of threats as those faced by Palestinians in Gaza, who have faced genocidal attacks for over 100 days.

While none of the article’s problematic language was changed, the headline was altered to “Young Israeli skaters get a reprieve from the horrors back home.” To conflate Palestinian and Israeli suffering is a form of anti-Palestinian racism. The violence experienced by Palestinians is 20 times worse than Israelis by death toll alone at this point. This doesn’t even consider the damage to homes, infrastructure, and much else.

CJPME plans on submitting a complaint to the National NewsMedia Council regarding these issues, but a change to the headline was an important modification nonetheless.