I have never been among those who hate CBC. I still occasionally listen to CBC radio, and I admire some of the veteran journalists there — I send them notes, telling them so. I thought the Conservative Party’s pledge to eliminate the CBC was stupid. In remote parts of a vast country, we need a broadcaster that fairly and accurately represents the news.

Except this direction from CBC management is not that. It is not fair and it is in no way accurate. It is rewriting the historical record. It is manipulating facts to fit an ideological perspective. It is cruel and despicable. It is Orwellian.

Kerry Kelly, the poor woman assigned to defend the insensible, said she’d get back to me. She did. Here is what she said: “CBC’s longstanding language guidance regarding the terms ‘terrorist’ and ‘terrorism’ is a preference for the use of these words with attribution, a practice shared by many of the world’s top journalistic organizations. Our general manager and editor in chief has written publicly in the past on the subject.”

On this, Kerry Kelly is actually right. In my new book The Hidden Hand: The Information War and the Rise of Antisemitic Propaganda, I describe how too many news organizations do not use the word terrorism to describe terrorism. Other news organizations have called terrorists “activists” (BBC), “attackers” (CNN), “fighters” (New York Times), and “militants” (Time).

They took all the footage off my T.V.
Said it's too disturbing for you and me
It'll just breed anger, that's what the experts say
If it was up to me, I'd show it every day