TORONTO — Donald Trump’s Republican Party has revoked CBC/Radio-Canada press credentials for its midterm convention in Dallas, citing the public broadcaster’s now-scrapped rule against calling the Sept. 11 attacks terrorism without attribution.The National Post reported Monday that the Republican National Committee withdrew previously approved credentials for both English and French services for the Sept. 9–10 gathering. That memo, circulated by Basem Boshra, senior director of journalistic standards, told staff to describe hijackings that led to passenger-jet crashes. Editor-in-chief Brodie Fenlon had long defended the practice on the grounds that the words are so loaded CBC should not itself designate acts as terrorism.Radio-Canada did not have that written rule. It lost the badge anyway.CBC reversed the English guidance Friday afternoon. Boshra wrote that the leak had caused “significant concern, anger and hurt.” Direct attribution would no longer be required for 9/11. The RNC letter arrived hours later..CBC tells journalists not to refer to 9/11 as ‘terrorist attack'.FBI chief threatens Canadian agencies over CBC’s refusal to call 9/11 terrorism.Chuck Thompson, CBC head of public affairs, called the ban “a disappointing development” and said the corporation hopes it will be reconsidered.FBI Director Kash Patel last week warned that any Canadian agency that failed to reject the memo would “no longer have a friend in this FBI.” U.S. Ambassador Pete Hoekstra said the FBI had helped disrupt terrorist and violent criminal groups operating in Canada, and that refusing to name radical ideologies endangers security co-operation.Conservative heritage critic Rachael Thomas had already demanded a firing and an apology. Twenty-four Canadians were among the dead. Al-Qaeda is a listed terrorist entity under the Criminal Code. “The person responsible for this directive receives a paycheque funded by the very taxpayers who experienced the pain and loss,” she said. CBC/Radio-Canada is slated for $1.38 billion in parliamentary funding in 2026–27.Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree said 30 minutes before CBC’s reversal that Ottawa has “always recognized 9/11 as the deadliest terrorist attack in history.”The convention is next week. CBC can cover it from outside the hall. Their badges are gone.
