The CBC’s censorship of the word "Palestine" had the unintended result of shining a spotlight on this decades-old erasure of Palestinian national identity in both the Canadian media and government.

Last summer’s fiasco at Canada’s national broadcaster, when the CBC censured the word “Palestine,” has brought continued focus to the debate over bias in North American media. According to the Ombudsman’s website, he is still working on cases from July, 2020. When a decision is made, the results will be made public.

Some brief background: On August 18, 2020 Duncan McCue, the host of the CBC show “The Current,” used the word “Palestine” in an interview with cartoonist and journalist Joe Sacco. Later that day the word was cut from the online transcript of the show and the following day on August 19 McCue issued an onair apology for using “Palestine” instead of “Palestinian territories.” The journalist had originally said “In so much of your work, context is key — whether it’s Palestine, or whether it’s Bosnia. In this book when you’re asking the Dene about their history…” In the revised transcript the CBC published deleted the clause about Palestine, posting: “In so much of your work, context is key. In this book when you’re asking the Dene about their history…” In his apology, McCue told listeners, “Yesterday, in my interview with Joe Sacco, I referred to the Palestinian territories as Palestine. We apologize.”

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