GOP Bars Canadian Broadcasting Corporation From Attending Trump’s Midterm Convention After Editorial Guidance on 9/11

The Republican National Committee will not allow Canada’s largest news organization, the CBC, to attend this month’s GOP midterm convention in Texas after the outlet told reporters that they should not refer to the September 11, 2001 attacks as terrorism outside of quotation marks. The decision also comes amidst heightened tensions between the two countries on trade issues. Last month, an internal memo from the CBC’s head of journalistic standards, Basem Boshra, was leaked to the Toronto Sun in which Mr. Boshra reiterated the outlet’s guidance that attacks like the September 11 attacks should not be referred to as terrorist acts unless the words are being quoted. Mr. Boshra later walked back that guidance following public backlash from members of the Trump administration and conservative lawmakers in Canada.“We are doing so to remove what has unfortunately (and unintentionally) become an impediment to clarity and public understanding,” Mr. Boshra wrote over the weekend. “At the same time, as new acts of politically or ideologically motivated violence occur in our world, we will continue to follow the journalistically sound practice of attributing causes and motivations to officials and experts.”Though the CBC decided to change its guidance, the outlet will nonetheless be barred from covering the first-of-its-kind GOP midterm convention being held at Dallas on September 9 and 10, which will feature both President Trump and Vice President JD Vance. The decision to revoke the CBC’s press credentials was first reported by the National Post, a Canadian broadsheet newspaper. A spokeswoman for the RNC confirmed the decision in an email to the New York Sun. “It is a disappointing development; we hope it will be reconsidered,” said Chuck Thompson, the head of the CBC’s head of public affairs. Though the editorial guidance on describing terrorism is the motivation for banning the CBC, the decision to ban Canada’s largest news broadcaster from a two-day event which will feature Mr. Trump also comes as Mr. Trump and Prime Minister Carney have kicked off what could become the ugliest trade war in the history of the U.S.–Canada relationship. After talks between American and Canadian officials fell apart last month, Mr. Carney said that Canada was “at war” because it had been “attacked” by Mr. Trump and his administration. Mr. Carney said that two of the biggest issues were American demands that some Canadian autoparts be arbitrarily subjected to tariffs while others would not be. He also said the U.S. took issue with some of the government’s spending on French language cultural initiatives — something the prime minister vociferously defended. “It was unacceptable right from the start, but the Americans kept trying and trying and we said no,” Mr. Carney said at a press conference in August. “Ultimately it’s simple. That was never on the table for Canada and it would not have been acceptable to Canadians.”

GOP Bars Canadian Broadcasting Corporation From Attending Trump’s Midterm Convention After Editorial Guidance on 9/11

GOP Bars Canadian Broadcasting Corporation From Attending Trump’s Midterm Convention After Editorial Guidance on 9/11

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