KINSELLA: Covert internal group oversees CBC’s coverage of Israel

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Canada’s state-funded national broadcaster has a secretive committee to oversee the network’s reporting on Israel — presumably to provide balance.

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But Jews who work at the CBC say the network’s coverage isn’t balanced. At all.

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Said one: “It’s depressing, I am afraid to speak up because I hear stories about my colleagues getting reprimanded. I feel like I am bashing my head against the wall.”

Another: “Jewish journalists aren’t being listened to. When ideas are being pitched, it falls on deaf ears. (Our) stories are being ignored.”

Now, the suggestion that Canada’s state-funded broadcaster has been less-than-fair to Israel, before and after the horrors of Oct. 7, isn’t particularly news. CBC refuses to describe the terrorist group Hamas as terrorists; it routinely accepts unverified casualty counts that come from Hamas; and, to cite just one example, it has refused — unlike other major media organizations — to apologize for falsely accusing Israel of bombing a hospital in Gaza City and killing hundreds.

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For most Jews, CBC’s ongoing coverage of Israel can be fairly described by the Honest Reporting watchdog: “CBC News provides one-sided smears of Israel.”

The notion that the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation tilts against Israel isn’t news, as noted. But the revelation that there exists a covert internal group overseeing CBC’s coverage of Israel, and that stories that are critical of the anti-Israel side are being actively suppressed? That’s news.

Consider these appalling facts from Jews who work within CBC:

— CBC News Network has not put the IDF on the air since before 2024.

— One anchor has been posting very anti-Israel posts on social media – behind a wall, so only a select few can see it.

— There’s no tracking of CBC coverage on perspectives — nor who is being put on the air.

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Said one former senior CBC producer — who, like all the others, feared retribution for speaking out: “As a former CBC person, I am deeply disappointed and troubled by the coverage of this war. It’s extremely one-sided and is only leading to more misinformation and hatred towards the Jewish community in Canada.

“The CBC was once the gold standard for journalism. However, those days are now gone — unless something radically changes within management.”

Asked for a comment about the shadowy “committee’s” work, CBC spokesperson Kerry Kelly admitted that it exists, which has not been publicly revealed before. Said Kelly: “We have a longstanding Middle East advisory committee created a few years ago to give CBC leadership recommendations about long-term coverage strategy in the region.”

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When Oct. 7 happened — when 1,200 men, women, children and babies were slaughtered, and 200 more taken hostage — CBC ramped up the work of the clandestine group. Said Kelly: “When coverage intensified in October, we put together a list of internal contacts (producers with extensive international experience) to provide editorial support if needed. Reporters and producers can choose to email them to ask questions or seek advice on day-to-day coverage of the Israel-Hamas war.”

Insisted Kelly: “They don’t review coverage.”

But how can the committee “provide advice” if they’re not in fact reviewing CBC coverage? And, for that matter, who is on the committee? What is their expertise? And what about suggestions that Jewish voices are disregarded, or non-existent on the committee?

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Says Kelly: “We don’t have access to individual statistics on our staff’s religious or cultural identity, nor is that information we would share.”

She then goes on to share what she says CBC management doesn’t have access to: “I can confirm the assertion that no one on the list belongs to the Jewish faith, or identifies as Jewish, is false on both accounts.”

Make sense to you? Me neither.

And nor does their coverage — which is, indeed, wildly unfair to those millions of viewers and listeners who support Israel and desperately want a balanced perspective. Will the taxpayer-funded broadcaster ever get around to supplying that kind of balance?

Don’t hold your breath.

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