Israel’s recent murder of five more journalists in a livestreamed “double-tap” strike has reignited outrage over the major pro-Israel bias of oligarchy-owned media. Canadian mainstream outlets are being condemned for coverage that has helped facilitate the most extensive extermination campaign of journalists in recorded history.
Since October 2023, the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate has documented Israel killing 247 journalists and media workers in Gaza, plus one in the West Bank. August 2025 was the deadliest month, with 15 media workers killed.
A report by the Costs of War Project at Brown University calculated that Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza “killed more journalists than the U.S. Civil War, World Wars I and II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War (including the conflicts in Cambodia and Laos), the wars in Yugoslavia in the 1990s and 2000s, and the post-2001 war in Afghanistan, combined.”
Yet mainstream outlets barely report this. In response, they have been targeted by protests from activists and former employees, who accuse them of enabling Israel’s 23-month campaign of massacres against Palestinian civilians and journalists.
One protest, a sit-in by the Canada Palestine Association (CPA), took place outside CBC Vancouver on August 20. The following week, Nadia, representing the CPA, told The North Star she was “furious, but not surprised” by the Aug. 25 “double-tap” attack that killed 22 people, including five journalists.
“Israel has long martyred Palestinian journalists,” Nadia said, recalling the 2022 targeted assassination of renowned Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh. She argued that Israel relies on silencing Palestinian media workers whose reporting exposes lies used to avoid accountability for their crimes.
She added that the killing of over 240 journalists during the genocide go unreported by mainstream media, “because you are talking about imperialist state media, which is not—and will never be—interested in telling the truth. It has, throughout its history, directly opposed the interests of the worldwide masses.”
“To do the bare minimum of acknowledging that Palestinian journalists are under systematic attack would invite questions like ‘Why? To what end? How?’ These are questions that those in power do not want to answer.”
Journalists in Canada organize
Exposés by former employees of Canadian media giants over the past few years have shed light on major breaches within mainstream outlets. Some of these media workers formed an organization called Canadian Journalists for Justice in Palestine (CJJP).
In an August 14 statement after Israel killed five journalists, including renowned Al Jazeera correspondent Anas Al-Sharif, CJJP said: “Canada presents itself as a staunch defender of press freedom and human rights. However, this claim rings hollow when our government refuses to condemn these atrocities in clear terms, and continues to engage in military and economic cooperation with the state responsible for them.”
The North Star attended the press conference of their launch in Vancouver on June 25 where Sharon Nadeem, speaking on behalf of CJJP, said the industry has “has declined to adequately expose atrocities committed by Israel, including atrocities against fellow journalists.” She added that workers who raise concerns are often “ostracized, silenced, and penalized” in major Canadian newsrooms.
Private and “public” media bias
Privately owned media monopolies have been some of the most egregious offenders. Senior producers and editors at Bell Media (the multi-billion-dollar conglomerate behind CTV) reportedly discouraging coverage of protests demanding a ceasefire and blocking stories that included context of Israel's 17-year-long siege of the Gaza Strip, the 76-year-long occupation, and its regime of apartheid.
The National Post, part of the Postmedia Network owned by American hedge fund Chatham Asset Management, has been the most blatantly pro-Israel outlet among major national news outlets. A comprehensive analysis of 197 wire stories found that the outlet was quietly and systematically editing the articles to favour Israeli narratives by adding/removing certain terms and facts.
The CBC, despite being the “public broadcaster,” tows a similar line to its oligarch-owned counterparts. As The North Star previously reported in its analysis of media coverage of the 2024 CUPW strike, CBC regularly takes the side of the Canadian elite and its allies, reflecting the policy of Canadian Prime Minister and banker Mark Carney. Molly Schumann—previously a producer for the CBC—recounts how the “subject of Israel-Palestine was to be avoided wherever possible” at the CBC because it was “expected to be framed in such a way as to obscure history and sanitize contemporary reality.”
The final straw
Trust in mainstream outlets has fallen nearly 20% since 2018 as corporate news outlets have consolidated into fewer hands and their newsrooms reporting more distant from the day-to-day experiences of working people.
Workers on strike or taking job action, such as Canada Post employees and Air Canada flight attendants, often see their struggles misrepresented in mainstream media. Coverage of Gaza’s conflict from a pro-Israel perspective has underscored this disparity.
Former CBC producer Samira Mohyeddin, now editor-in-chief of an independent outlet, said: “Legacy media doesn’t have a lot of credibility left anymore because people can see what is happening in the palms of their hands versus what is delivered to them in the news.”