With most of Gaza facing starvation, Canada joined France and the UK in criticizing Israel on May 19 and demanding it let aid into the Palestinian territory it has been relentlessly bombing for around 19 months. A report warned that if food was not let in, 14,000 babies could die of starvation in the next 11 months.
CBC News decided to have Israel’s ambassador to Canada on its show Power & Politics on May 22 to give Israel’s perspective. The show is normally hosted by David Cochrane, but this time it was hosted by Peter Armstrong.
A few days later, on May 26, the advocacy group Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East put an “alert” up on their Media Accountability Project (MAP) page under the title “MAP ALERT: CBC NEWS GIVES ISRAELI AMBASSADOR FREE REIN TO SPREAD PROPAGANDA.”
The MAP puts up one to four alerts per week. For comparison, the pro-Israel group HonestReporting Canada puts up around three media alerts per day, or 15 per week.
“The segment failed to meet basic journalistic standards,” it reads, “offering a platform for unchallenged Israeli propaganda while erasing Palestinian suffering.”
More specifically, CJPME took issue with the segment making no mention of the Palestinian death toll, not challenging the ambassador’s claim that Israel’s action in Gaza are “defensive,” not challenging or correcting a statistic the ambassador used about antisemitic incidents that can’t be corroborated, and for allowing the ambassador’s false claim around a supposed increase in the amount of aid distributed in Gaza to go unquestioned.
The alert also incorrectly stated David Cochrane hosted the segment. CJPME alerts include a link that opens an email with recipient addresses and a subject line already inputted. In this case, the recipients were David Cochrane, Basem Boshra, who is CBC’s new senior director of journalistic standards and public trust, and Sara Brunetti, the executive producer of Power & Politics. In the BCC field is a CJPME address so the group can see what’s being sent.
Jason Toney, CJPME’s director of media advocacy, says “40 or so” CJPME subscribers had sent emails to CBC, though other people could have sent emails without BCC’ing CJPME.
The next day, Boshra sent Toney an email letting him know the name of the host was wrong in the alert, and that Peter Armstrong had conducted the interview.
“Sincere apologies. We will be correcting our mistake about the interview online,” Toney wrote back that day, and acknowledged it was unfair Cochrane was criticized for a segment he didn’t host.
This CJPME alert was not promoted on social media. Around this time, a May 23 video by CJPME criticizing a different CBC News‘ program with different hosts was popular on social media, being liked over 2,000 times on Instagram and nearly 500 times on X.
CBC’s new Senior Director of Journalistic Standards and Public Trust lashes out
On May 28, the day after clarifying the host’s name, Boshra sent Toney another email with a much different tone:
Dear Jason Toney,
Would just like to note that this is an example of the hateful, abusive feedback that was misdirected towards David Cochrane as a result of the egregious error made in your latest campaign.
There are others like this, but I won’t dignify them by amplifying them any further.
Regardless of your intentions, this is the kind of feedback your campaigns can elicit. I don’t care how much you or your organization or the people who take part in your campaigns find our coverage to be problematic, this is utterly disgraceful and unacceptable feedback.
It also puts the lie to your earlier statement made to me that the CJPME “does not attempt to bully journalists and editors.”
And before you say that this person does not represent the CJPME, they were directly responding to a campaign called by your group, so I consider the CJPME directly responsible.
Do better.
Basem
The email that had been directed to Cochrane from a viewer read:
You are a disgrace. A racist, Islamophobic imbecile, willing to normalize a Genocide, to CHEERLEAD it. You will rot in Hell Cochrane. Newfoundland disowns you.
Toney emailed Boshra back that day, calling Boshra’s message “utterly disrespectful, misguided, and unfair.” He said he had very professional and reasonable communications with Boshra’s predecessor, Nancy Waugh.
“I have never received a message like yours from CBC staff — it is totally out of order,” Toney wrote.
Toney says CJPME has no record of the hateful message because the sender did not include the CJPME in their original email.
He also explained how CJPME’s process requires that subscribers to their alerts “express themselves in accordance with our ‘Terms of Participation,’ which you can read here.”
These include “I will refrain from any hateful, abusive or defamatory speech, whether with the media or others,” and “I will respect and give fair consideration to diverse and opposing viewpoints; remaining always polite and professional; never becoming verbally abusive.”
Toney said Boshra could forward him all the hateful emails so he could remove those people from the CJPME subscriber list, if they were on it. Boshra did not take up Toney’s offer in the email exchanges.
“Instead of taking seriously the critiques made by likely dozens of listeners,” Toney wrote, “you are attempting to guilt CJPME by association for particularly angry emails that are beyond our control.”
“To be clear, CJPME has repeatedly praised the good journalism that CBC does, as much as we’ve raised the alarm about particularly egregious reporting. We are not bullies. We totally reject your characterization. It is offensive and misplaced.”
In a statement to The Grind, Toney writes: “CJPME is alarmed that CBC’s Director of ‘Journalistic Standards’ and ‘Public Trust’ would so blatantly disregard both. … Most troubling is the explicit statement that CBC ‘doesn’t care’ about public criticism of its coverage on Palestine. It is impossible to imagine such a response being directed at organizations like HonestReporting Canada.”
Boshra responded to Toney’s email, writing, in part, “I stand by my comments in their entirety. … [CJPME’s] campaigns can be incredibly harmful to our journalists” He added that CBC News engages “with the substance of CJPME complaints and will continue to do so.”
Nothing in Boshra’s email exchange, however, relates to the substance of the CJPME complaint.
That day, May 28, Toney posted on X a screencap of Boshra’s initial email calling CJPME bullies.
Also that day, Boshra offered to meet with Toney in a couple weeks. Toney agreed under the condition that Boshra’s supervisor, general manager and editor-in-chief of CBC News Brodie Fenlon attend, and he CC’ed Fenlon.
Fenlon declined, saying “my own duty to uphold CBC’s impartiality prevents me from holding individual meetings with stakeholders.”
Cochrane angry, rejects apology
On Thursday, May 29, Toney wrote to David Cochrane to apologize for the mixup and describe CJPME’s process.
“I’m sorry to say I don’t accept your apology,” Cochrane wrote back. “This is not the first time CJPME has targeted me and each time it has unleashed a torrent of abuse. You may not intend this to happen. But it does.”
Cochrane went on to write that in his view CJPME is not doing accountability work; they are bullying and “pointing a mob at a target.”
“If I’m coming across and angry (sic), it’s because I am. This has affected my mental health this week and made it very difficult to be a good husband and father when the emails never seem to stop.”
Cochrane acknowledged to Toney that “There are real criticisms and real conversations to have about how this conflict is covered,” but did not engage with CJPME’s criticisms of the segment in question.
Cochrane pointed to having Mona Abuamara, Ambassador of Palestine in Canada, on the show, as evidence that his show makes space for Palestinian perspectives.
“Each time I have Mona on the show I am drowned in emails calling me a genocidal antisemite,” Cochrane added.
Toney responded in depth, including asking Cochrane if he has ever sent a similar email to HonestReporting Canada.
Cochrane replied to other parts of the email but did not answer that question.
In a statement to The Grind, Toney writes:
“It is deeply troubling to see a leading figure at CBC, David Cochrane, refer to critics of the broadcaster’s Palestine coverage as a ‘mob.’ It is inappropriate and disappointing to invoke his professional — and by all accounts, cordial — relationship with the Palestinian ambassador to deflect legitimate criticism and disparage other advocates for Palestinian rights. This kind of response reflects a narrow and revealing attitude that, unfortunately, appears to characterize CBC’s broader approach to Palestinian voices.”
Complaint filed
Toney has filed a complaint with the CBC alleging Boshra and Cochrane violated the CBC’s Journalistic Standards and Practices and the Code of Conduct.
The Grind asked Boshra and Cochrane for comment for this article.
CBC’s Head of Public Affairs Chuck Thompson responded instead, writing by email:
“CBC News welcomes and routinely responds to criticism of our journalism and is publicly accountable for it through an independent Ombudsman process. However, a few groups, including the CJPME, have increasingly taken to pressure campaigns that target individual journalists, often with their photos and contact information. Regardless of their intent, these campaigns consistently result in a flood of abuse and harassment of our reporters (and in this case CJPME wrongly implicated the wrong journalist). We made our concerns about the impact of these campaigns known to CJMPE, as we have with other groups.”
When asked whether they have made similar concerns known to HonestReporting Canada, Thompson replied, “we have nothing more to add.”
The Grind asked HonestReporting Canada if CBC execs have accused them of bullying, but did not receive a response.
This article appeared in the 2025 Summer issue.