Canadian Broadcasting Corporation

Most of the stations were reconfigured in 1973 to receive CBC Television programming from the Anik satellite in colour and live with the rest of Canada. Those serving the largest centres signed on with colour broadcasts on February 5, 1973, and most of the others were added before spring of that year. Broadcasts were geared to either the Atlantic Time Zone (UTC−4 or −3), originating from Halifax and later St. John's, or the Pacific Time Zone (UTC−8 or −7), originating from Vancouver, even though the audience resided in communities in time zones varying from UTC−5 to UTC−8; the reason for this was that the CBC originated its programs for the Atlantic Time Zone, and a key station in each time zone would record the broadcast for the appropriate delay of one, two or three hours; the programs were originated again for the Pacific zone. The northern stations picked up one of these two feeds, with the western NWT stations picking up the Pacific feed. Some in northern areas of the provinces were connected by microwave to a CBC broadcast centre within their own province.

Some of these stations used non-CBC call signs such as CFWH-TV in Whitehorse, CFYK in Yellowknife, CFFB in Frobisher Bay and CHAK in Inuvik, while some others used the standard CB_T callsign but with five letters (e.g. CBDHT). Uplinks in the North were usually a temporary unit brought in from the south. A ground station uplink was later established in Yellowknife, and then in Whitehorse and Iqaluit.

Television programs originating in the North began in 1979 with the monthly news magazine Our Ways, produced in Yellowknife, and graduated to half-hour newscasts (Northbeat and Igalaaq) on weekdays in 1995. Until then, there were occasional temporary uplinks for such things as territorial election returns coverage; Yukon had the first such coverage in 1985, though because it happened during the Stanley Cup playoffs, equipment was already spoken for, so CBC rented the equipment of CITV-TV Edmonton to use in Whitehorse that evening.

2011 transition to digital television

The CRTC ordered that in 28 "mandatory markets", full power over-the-air analogue television transmitters had to cease transmitting by August 31, 2011. Broadcasters could either continue serving those markets by transitioning analogue transmitters to digital or cease broadcasting over-the-air. Cable, IPTV, and satellite services are not involved or affected by this digital transition deadline.

While its fellow Canadian broadcasters converted most of their transmitters to digital by the Canadian digital television transition deadline of August 31, 2011, the CBC converted only about half of the analogue transmitters mandatory to digital (15 of 28 markets with CBC TV, and 14 of 28 markets with SRC). Due to financial difficulties reported by the corporation, the corporation published a plan whereby communities that receive analogue signals by re-broadcast transmitters in mandatory markets would lose their over-the-air (OTA) signals as of the deadline. Rebroadcast transmitters account for 23 of the 48 CBC and SRC transmitters in mandatory markets. Mandatory markets losing both CBC and SRC over-the-air signals include London, Ontario (metropolitan area population 457,000) and Saskatoon, Saskatchewan (metro area 257,000). In both of those markets, the corporation's television transmitters are the only ones that were not converted to digital.

On July 31, 2012, the CBC shut down all of its approximately 620 analogue television transmitters, following an announcement of these plans on April 4, 2012. This reduced the total number of the corporation's television transmitters across the country to 27. According to the CBC, this would reduce the corporation's yearly costs by $10 million. No plans have been announced to use subchannels to maintain over-the-air signals for both CBC and SRC in markets where the corporation has one digital transmitter. In fact, in its CRTC application to shut down all of its analogue television transmitters, the CBC communicated its opposition to the use of subchannels, citing, amongst other reasons, costs. CBC/R-C claims that only 1.7 percent of Canadian viewers actually lost access to CBC and Radio-Canada programming due to the very high penetration of cable and satellite. In some areas (particularly remote and rural regions), cable or satellite have long been essential for acceptable television.

Fallout over the Ghomeshi affair

In 2015, after allegations that CBC Radio host Jian Ghomeshi had sexually harassed colleagues, Ghomeshi was placed on leave; his employment was terminated in October when the CBC indicated that they had "graphic evidence" that he had injured a female employee. The corporation commissioned an independent investigation. The resulting report by Janice Rubin, a partner at the law firm Rubin Thomlinson LLP, discussed employee complaints about Ghomeshi that were not seriously considered by the CBC. Rubin concluded that CBC management had "failed to take adequate steps" when it became aware of Ghomeshi's "problematic behaviour".

Ghomeshi was charged by police with multiple counts of sexual assault but was found not guilty of all but one of these in March 2016. He was to be tried in June on the last remaining charge, relating to a complainant who had also worked at CBC; her name was later revealed to be Kathryn Borel. On May 11, 2016, however, the Crown withdrew the charge after Ghomeshi signed a peace bond (which does not include an admission of guilt) and apologized to Borel. Borel was critical of the CBC for its handling of her initial complaint about Ghomeshi's behaviour. "When I went to the CBC for help, what I received in return was a directive that, yes, he could do this and, yes, it was my job to let him", she told the assembled media representatives.

The CBC apologized to Borel publicly on May 11 in a statement by the head of public affairs Chuck Thompson. "What Ms. Borel experienced in our workplace should never have happened and we sincerely apologize...", he stated. The corporation has also maintained that it had accepted Rubin's report and had "since made significant progress" on a revised policy of improved training and methods for handling bullying and harassment complaints.

The Rubin report "contained several recommendations on how the CBC can change its workplace culture. One of those recommendations included the creation of a work and human rights ombudsperson whom employees could use to raise concerns about the workplace." The CBC also severed its relationship "with two top executives, Chris Boyce, the former head of CBC Radio, and Todd Spencer, the head of human resources for English services".

In a Toronto Star article by Jacques Gallant from May 11, 2016, public relations expert Martin Waxman spoke of a "damning indictment" of the CBC which included the following comment. "Yes, they did their inquiry, but if I were the CBC, I would think strongly about what is wrong with the culture and what they can do to repair it", he said. The Star also quoted employment lawyer Howard Levitt stating that "harassment has not been fully addressed at the CBC" in his estimation. Levitt called the Rubin report a "whitewash" and reiterated his suggestion that a federal commission should conduct a more detailed inquiry into workplace issues at the public broadcaster.

42nd Canadian Parliament: lawsuit threats

During the 2015 Canadian federal election campaign, the CBC issued cease and desist letters to the Broadbent Institute, the Conservative Party of Canada (CPC), the Liberal Party of Canada, and the New Democratic Party of Canada, accusing them of using copyrighted footage from CBC news programming in their campaign advertising without permission. The Liberals and NDP complied with the letters, pulling the ads in question, while the Broadbent Institute and the Conservatives persisted. Eventually, however, rather than go to court, the Broadbent Institute and the Conservatives agreed to remove the offending material, and as such, the CBC did not pursue them further for these alleged infractions in 2015.

43rd Canadian Parliament: trial of suit

In October 2019, two weeks before the 2019 Canadian federal election, the CBC sued the CPC for using excerpts from its leaders' debates in campaign material. The CBC petitioned for an injunction against the CPC continuing to use the excerpts as well as seeking an acknowledgement from the CPC and its executive director, Dustin Van Vugt, that the party had "engaged in the unauthorized use of copyright-protected material". Furthermore, the CBC indicated that the clips in question were "taken out of context and are edited and relied on to make partisan points for the benefit" of the CPC. In response, the CPC stated that 17 seconds of footage had been used and the video in question had been removed before the lawsuit was filed, and expressed "grave concern that this decision was made on the eve of an election that CBC is to be covering fairly and objectively".

Intellectual property academic Michael Geist stated that the use of the footage was likely covered by fair dealing provisions. Then-CBC President and CEO Catherine Tait contended that she did not believe that the use of journalistic material for partisan ads was covered by the "fair dealing" exemption of the Copyright Act.

Resolution: court allows fair dealing

On May 13, 2021, the CPC lawsuit was dismissed in the Federal Court of Canada, with Justice Phelan's clarification that the CPC's use was fair and allowable. The decision made precedent. "Prior to this decision, Canadian jurisprudence held that to meet the requirements of criticism and review, the copyrighted work in use must be critiqued and analyzed. Furthermore, the Court held that for attribution of the source and author, the inclusion of the CBC's logo was sufficient" to meet Copyright Act requirements.

In November 2004, the CBC, in partnership with Standard Broadcasting and Sirius Satellite Radio, applied to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) for a licence to introduce satellite radio service to Canada. The CRTC approved the subscription radio application, as well as two others for satellite radio service, on June 16, 2005. Sirius Canada launched on December 1, 2005, with a number of CBC Radio channels, including the new services CBC Radio 3 and Bande à part. The CBC once owned a stake in SiriusXM Canada, but exited from ownership following a reorganization announced in 2016.

In some areas, especially national or provincial parks, the CBC also operates an AM or FM transmitter rebroadcasting weather alerts from the Meteorological Service of Canada's Weatheradio Canada service.

Long-range radio plan

The CBC's long-range radio plan (LRRP) was developed by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) in collaboration with the CBC to identify those FM frequencies that would likely be required to deliver the CBC's radio services to the maximum number of Canadians. The CBC is not subject to any conditions or expectations concerning its LRRP. The CBC noted that Première Chaîne (now Ici Radio-Canada Première) and CBC Radio One were available to about 99% of the Canadian population. The CBC stated that it plans to maintain its radio service but has no plans to grow the coverage area. It described the LRRP as a planning vehicle and indicated that it would no longer use it. Given reductions in public funding to the CBC and given that Première Chaîne and Radio One are available to the vast majority of Canadians, the Commission considers that the CBC's plan to maintain current coverage and discontinue the LRRP is reasonable. Accordingly, the Commission accepted the CBC's proposal to discontinue the LRRP.

Radio Guide

Beginning in 1981, CBC Radio launched the monthly magazine Radio Guide, which included CBC Radio program listings alongside feature content, such as profiles of musicians and writers and behind the scenes looks at CBC programs. The magazine was released both by subscription and as a newsstand title. In 1984, due to budgetary pressures at the CBC, the magazine began accepting paid advertising from outside clients; in 1985, due to further budget cuts, the magazine was discontinued as a standalone title, and instead became a supplement in Saturday Night. In 1988, the magazine was sold to Core Group Publishers of Vancouver, and continued in this format until 1997, when it was discontinued due to a declining subscriber base.

Television

The CBC operates two national broadcast television networks: CBC Television in English, and ICI Radio-Canada Télé in French. Like private broadcasters, both of these networks sell advertising but offer more Canadian-produced programming. All CBC television stations are owned and operated by the CBC itself and carry a common schedule, aside from local programming and other regional variation (such as the CBC North stations in Nunavut, the Northwest Territories, and the Yukon carrying an additional newscast in the Inuktitut language and a weekly Cree program), and CBET-DT in Windsor amending its non-primetime schedule at various points due to program rights conflicts with Detroit stations.

Both CBC's English and French networks previously had a number of private affiliates owned by third-party owners. However, the majority of them have either been bought by the CBC and subsequently shut down during the transition to digital television, or have switched to other networks and program services.

One of the most popular shows is the weekly Saturday night broadcast of NHL hockey games. In English, the program is known as Hockey Night in Canada, and in French, it was called La Soirée du hockey. Both shows began in 1952. The French edition was discontinued in 2004, though Radio-Canada stations outside of Quebec simulcast some Saturday night games produced by RDS until 2006. The network suffered considerable public embarrassment when it lost the rights to the show's theme music following a protracted lawsuit launched by the song's composer and publishers. In 2013, the exclusive national media rights to the NHL were acquired by Rogers Media, although Rogers would reach an agreement with the CBC to license the Hockey Night in Canada brand for use in its coverage of Saturday-night games, and broker a version of the broadcasts to CBC at no charge.

The CBC also wholly owns and operates four specialty television channels—the news channels CBC News Network and Ici RDI, and the French-language networks Ici Explora and Ici ARTV (the latter since 2015 after buying the remaining 15% of the channel from Arte France). It also owns a managing interest in Documentary Channel.

CBC provides viewers with interactive on-demand television programs every year through digital-cable services like Rogers Cable.

Children's programming air under the commercial-free preschool programming block called CBC Kids. In French, the children's programming block is Zone Jeunesse on ICI Radio-Canada Télé.

Online

The CBC has two main websites: CBC.ca is in English and was established in 1996; and Radio-Canada.ca is in French. The websites allow the CBC to produce sections that complement the various programs on television and radio.

In May 2012, as part of an initiative to improve its service in "underserved" markets, the CBC launched a CBC Hamilton news operation for Hamilton, Ontario. With the Hamilton area already within the broadcast range of CBC Radio and CBC Television's services in Toronto, the outlet focuses exclusively on digital content, including a section of the CBC News website oriented towards the market. CBC Hamilton reporters have occasionally filed reports for the CBC's television news output, in the event of major stories centred upon the city.

Also in 2012, the corporation launched CBC Music, an internet radio service that produces and distributes 40 music-related channels, including the existing audio streams of CBC Radio 2 and CBC Radio 3. In October 2019, the CBC launched a successor to the CBC Music platform known as CBC Listen, which encompasses the CBC's radio, music, as well as podcast output.

CBC offers feature-length documentary films through the documentary Channel [sic], a digital television station.

In February 2023, the CBC indicated for the first time that it has begun preliminary planning toward the prospect that future broadcasting will take place entirely on internet streaming platforms rather than traditional radio or television transmissions, although it has not yet announced a specific target date for any changeover.

Merchandising

Established in 2002, CBC Merchandising operates retail locations and CBCshop.ca; its educational sales department, CBC Learning, sells CBC content and media to educational institutions; as well as licensing brands such as Hockey Night in Canada (whose branding is still owned by the CBC) and Coronation Street (as a Canadian licensee under arrangement from ITV Studios).

Miscellaneous

CBC Records is a Canadian record label that distributes CBC programming, including live concert performances and album transcripts of news and information programming such as the Massey Lectures, in album format. Music albums on the label, predominantly in the classical and jazz genres, are distributed across Canada in commercial record stores, while albums containing spoken word programming are predominantly distributed by the CBC's own retail merchandising operations.

CBC provides news, business, weather and sports information on Air Canada's inflight entertainment as Enroute Journal.

In 2021, the company launched Mauril, an app that teaches English and French language skills using CBC/Radio-Canada content.

In 2004, Canadian retired senator Jean-Robert Gauthier, a hard-of-hearing person, filed a complaint with the CHRC against Radio-Canada concerning captioning, particularly the absence of real-time captioning on newscasts and other live programming. As part of the settlement process, Radio-Canada agreed to submit a report on the state of captioning, especially real-time captioning, on Radio-Canada and RDI. The report, which was the subject of some criticism, proposed an arrangement with Cité Collégiale, a college in Ottawa, to train more French-language real-time captioners.

English-language specialty networks owned or co-owned by CBC, including documentary, have the lower captioning requirements typical of larger Canadian broadcasters (90% of the broadcast day by the end of both networks' licence terms). ARTV, the French-language specialty network co-owned by CBC, has a minimum captioning requirement of 53%.

2013 Radio-Canada rebranding

On June 5, 2013, the CBC announced that it would be phasing out the Radio-Canada brand from its French-language broadcast properties, and unifying them under names prefixed with "Ici" ('this is' or literally 'here'). For instance, the CBC planned to re-brand Télévision de Radio-Canada as "Ici Télé", Première Chaîne as "Ici Première", and move its French-language website from Radio-Canada.ca to ici.ca. Radio-Canada vice-president Louis Lalande stated that the new name complemented its multi-platform operations, while also serving as an homage to the broadcaster's historic station identification slogan since the 1930s, "ici Radio-Canada" ('this is Radio-Canada').

The announcement was criticized by politicians (such as Minister of Canadian Heritage James Moore), who felt that the new "Ici" brand was too confusing, and that the CBC was diminishing the value of the Radio-Canada name through its plans to downplay it. The re-branding was also criticized for being unnecessary spending, reportedly costing $400,000, in the midst of budget cuts at the CBC. On June 10, in response to the criticism, Hubert Lacroix apologized for the decision and announced that the new brands for its main radio and television networks would be revised to restore the Radio-Canada name alongside Ici, such as "Ici Radio-Canada Première".

In March 2013, the CBC also filed a trademark lawsuit against Sam Norouzi, founder of CFHD-DT—a new multicultural station in Montreal—seeking to have Norouzi's registration on the name "ICI" (as an abbreviation of "International Channel/Canal International") cancelled because it was too similar to its own "Ici"-related trademarks. Despite Norouzi's trademark having been registered prior to the registration of CBC's, the corporation argued that Norouzi's application contained incorrect information surrounding his first use of the name in commerce, and also asserted the long-time use of "Ici Radio-Canada" as part of its imaging. Norouzi stated that he planned to fight the CBC in court.

Suspension of local newscasts during the COVID-19 pandemic

On March 18, 2020, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, CBC News suspended all of its English-language local newscasts (excluding those carried by CBC North, which include an English-language newscast and a second in Inuktitut), replacing them in their time slots with simulcasts of CBC News Network. The CBC stated that this was done in order to pool its local resources to CBC News Network as a "core news offering". An employee memo suggested that a lack of staff at the Canadian Broadcasting Centre and "much stricter newsgathering protocols" were another factor in the decision. CBC News editor-in-chief Brodie Fenlon similarly stated that the broadcaster had decided to consolidate news production because their outbreak had "place[d] incredible demands on our staff and our infrastructure", and not all jobs associated with television production were capable of being done remotely. These consolidations only affect news programming on CBC Television; CBC Radio and Ici Radio-Canada Télé have continued to carry local content.

The CBC's decision faced criticism for its lack of clear justification, and resulting reduction of local news coverage during a major news event—especially in markets where CBC's local newscasts are the only news programming specific to the region (such as Prince Edward Island, which resulted in criticism of the move by Premier Dennis King). The Canadian Media Guild stated that the decision "flies in the face of past experience which has proven time and again that in times of significant events, Canadians trust and rely on CBC news coverage, particularly for its widespread coverage of regional and local impact, something no other Canadian network can match". Montreal Gazette media writer Steve Faguy questioned whether this change was in compliance with the individual stations' CRTC licences, as all CBC stations are required to produce local newscasts daily, and a minimum amount of local programming per-week.

In an editorial for The Globe and Mail, former CTV News president Robert Hurst stated that it was unusual for a journalistic operation to cut back on its operations during a crisis, and suggested that decision was the culmination of "decades of CBC News mismanagement" and low ratings in comparison to competitors (such as CTV, Global, and Citytv) in most markets. The Toronto Star similarly wrote that the CBC had "decided to bail on local communities across the country".

On March 24, the CBC announced that it would introduce "an expanded 30-minute local news segment on CBC News Network" beginning March 25, and would "make every effort to have all of the dedicated local shows back up on the main network".

In May 2021, Radio-Canada commissioned a documentary to better understand the dissident movement led by Dave Leduc and three other Quebec personalities that rejected the health measures imposed by the government surrounding COVID-19 pandemic in Quebec. The documentary was a finalist for the Prix Gémeaux.

CBC Tandem and branded content

Since 2016, the CBC has utilized branded content, publishing advertisements that are designed to look, read or sound similarly to news produced by the CBC itself. In 2020 the CBC formally launched a division called Tandem that focused its branded content marketing efforts, promising corporate clients they can "leverage" the CBC's reputation by aligning their message with the "trust Canadians have in our brand". Over 500 current and former employees called on CBC management to end Tandem, saying "in an era of 'fake news', where misinformation is already rife, it undermines trust... what's worse, it uses [Canadians'] tax dollars to do it." In November 2020 former employees requested that the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission investigate Tandem as part of the public broadcaster's upcoming licence renewal, concerned the content blurs the lines between advertising and news, adding that "Canadians have a right to a national public broadcaster that puts their news and information needs ahead of the desires of corporate clients."

Private sector media criticized the CBC's ability to dominate the Canadian advertising market, using tax-funded subsidies to unfairly compete with local newspapers and broadcasters, driving them out of business.

CBC President and CEO Catherine Tait states that the CBC has since put "guardrails" in place that will ensure there is no confusion between CBC journalism and commercial advertising.

The CRTC integrated its investigation of Tandem into its hearings on the renewal of CBC's federal broadcast licences, ultimately renewing the CBC's licence from 2022 to 2027 and approving the Tandem program. The CRTC required that the CBC must establish, maintain, and publicize their guidelines on branded content as well as measure whether branded content is confusing to Canadians.

The CRTC decision has been criticized as allowing the CBC to disregard its mandate as a public broadcaster, transforming into a "publicly funded commercial broadcaster".

Kenneth Muzik verdict

On December 15, 2021, Manitoba Bench Justice Herbert Rempel ordered the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation to pay investment advisor Kenneth Wayne Muzik nearly $1.7 million in damages for a story it had aired in June 2012 featuring a former client, William Worthington, who complained about the performance of his investment portfolio. Muzik was represented by William Gange of Gange Collins Holloway. In March 2022, Rempel ordered CBC to pay nearly $300 thousand to cover Muzik's legal fees.

In 2023, the Manitoba court of appeal overturned Rempel's decision, stating that the CBC acted in the public interest when reporting on the investment adviser.

"Given the public interest aspect of the story, the CBC performed a satisfactory investigation into the status and reliability of its main source, the Worthingtons," the appeal court decision says.

"For the trial judge to dismiss the plaintiff's conduct and his regulatory problems in his assessment of the reputation the plaintiff held at the time of the publication is a failure to give proper effect to relevant evidence," the appeal court's decision said regarding Justice Rempel's assessment of Muzik's history as an advisor.

While the appeal court agreed that the stories were defamatory, it found that the trial judge erred by failing to appreciate that there was a public interest element to the stories, given that they dealt with risks to investors and the regulation of financial planners.

WE Charity v. CBC

On February 8, 2022, WE Charity's New York-based affiliate filed a lawsuit against the CBC for defamation. The 230-page complaint was filed in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, where the case was assigned to district judge Randolph D. Moss.

The lawsuit alleges that, in an hour-long piece for its series The Fifth Estate, the CBC broadcast claims by reporters Mark Kelly and Harvey Cashore that the CBC knew to be false, including that WE Charity had exaggerated the number of schoolhouses it had built in Kenya and deceived donors about how their money had been spent. WE Charity accused the CBC of fabricating quotes and using misleading editing to support what WE called a "preconceived narrative".

Joe Patrice of the Above the Law website, which covers legal news, reviewed the details of the lawsuit and called it a "mirror image" of Dominion Voting Systems v. Fox News Network. Dominion Voting Systems, originally a Canadian company, choose to sue Fox News Network in the United States, ultimately settling for $787.5 million. Similarly, WE Charity, whose American operations are incorporated in Williamsville, New York, sued the CBC in the United States, in both instances despite the hurdle of the "actual malice" standard established in New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, which is unique to American law and requires that the defendant either knew that or did not care if its representations were false. Pattrice writes, "The CBC produced segments claiming that the charity misappropriated donor money... it did not."

On May 4, the CBC's attorneys filed a motion to dismiss the case per forum non conveniens, saying that it would be more appropriately heard before a Canadian court. WE Charity replied on June 10, countering that the CBC's allegations had hindered its fundraising efforts in the United States, where many of its donors are located. On June 27, Judge Moss denied the CBC's motion, ruling that the case would proceed in the District Court. Moss rejected the CBC's assertion that travel from Canada to the United States was unduly burdensome, and held that the relative ease of modern electronic discovery and document transfer between jurisdictions made the existence of documentary evidence in Canada a negligible hurdle to litigation in the United States. Patrice suggests that, even ten years prior, the CBC's motion might have succeeded, and sees the decision as an example of how the rise of digital media is revolutionizing the legal profession.

Twitter label

On April 17, 2023, the main CBC account on Twitter was labeled as "government-funded media". In response, CBC announced they would cease its usage of Twitter, similarly to NPR after the initial controversy surrounding Elon Musk's decisions as Twitter CEO. Later, Elon Musk tweeted that in response to CBC's claim that they were "less than 70% government-funded", Twitter was changing the label to "69% government-funded media". According to the CBC annual revenue report, 70.6% of revenue came from parliamentary spending in 2019–2020, while 65.6% of revenue came in 2021–2022, and 66.7% came in 2023.

On May 9, 2023, the CBC announced that it would resume partial activity on some of its Twitter accounts.

Travis Dhanraj resignation

Travis Dhanraj, the former host of CBC News program Canada Tonight, alleged in 2025 that he was forced to resign by CBC after he raised issues such as a lack of diversity of opinion and editorial imbalance in its political coverage. CBC spokesperson Kerry Kelly said the corporation "categorically rejects" Dhanraj's allegations. Dhanraj's lawyer, Kathryn Marshall, said that the CBC did not want him booking "Conservative voices" on his show.

September 11 attacks labelling

First reported by the Toronto Star in August 2026, a leaked internal CBC memo told staff to "not refer to the September 11 attacks as terrorist attacks." CBC/Radio-Canada's internal language guide does not allow reporters to describe events as terrorist attacks unless they quote others. The memo, written by the CBC's Basem Boshra, received criticism from U.S. officials Kash Patel and Pete Hoekstra, and some Conservative Party of Canada and U.S. Republican Party politicians. The CBC later reversed its decision that month, giving the September 11 attacks an exemption from the guidelines.