In mid-January, The Globe and Mail was flooded with more than 2,200 largely identical e-mails expressing disapproval of The Globe’s reporting on the Israel-Hamas war. The uniformity of the messages indicated senders were participating in a letter-writing campaign, which is a common practice. Many advocacy groups encourage followers to participate in campaigns and share tips online about how to write letters that will get noticed by politicians or other decision-makers; some provide the full text of their desired message outlining a request (or demand) for a certain action.
Criticism is important. It helps to keep news media accountable, and the ability to provide “actionable feedback” has been identified as a critical factor for building trust with the audiences that news organizations serve. That’s one of the reasons the Standards Editor job exists, and one of the reasons why The Globe has a non-paywalled online directory of senior editors and newsroom departments. (To reach a reporter or other individual staff not listed there via e-mail, the address formula is first initial + last name + @globeandmail.com.)
Readers, sources and other Canadians contact The Globe daily to flag errors, voice critiques or complaints about our coverage, and suggest topics for the future. Each one of these messages is read and considered. While The Globe generally does not reply to copy-and-paste campaign e-mails, the theme of this latest petition suggests it’s a good time to reiterate our standards for reporting on the Israel-Hamas war. (Campaign messages continue to trickle in daily.)
A good place to start is with the three Standards Editor columns I devoted to this topic in fall, 2023 (starting on Oct. 20). At that time, some readers asked why The Globe only used the word “terrorist” to describe Hamas inside quotation marks, and carefully attributed to the speaker or source. The focus has since shifted to the use – or lack – of the word “genocide.” The same guidance applies now as then: “We should also attribute language used by political actors, and avoid taking a position ourselves … .”
An article published in The Globe on Jan. 15 states the fact that “The International Court of Justice is investigating allegations brought by South Africa that Israel has committed genocide.” There is yet no conclusion to the case, and so accusations of genocide must be attributed.
This practice is reflected consistently – for example, in an article published online Dec. 5, 2024, with the headline: “Amnesty International accuses Israel of committing genocide in Gaza during war with Hamas”; and in an article published Aug. 22, 2024, which opens, “The federal government is pushing Israel to accept the emergency orders of the International Court of Justice on preventing genocide in Gaza, Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly says.”
As with the use of “terrorist,” The Globe has provided space in its Opinion pages for thinkers who take the perspective that genocide is an established fact. For example, in a column published Oct. 10, 2024, Palestinian-Canadian lawyer Diana Buttu asserted: “The global community should be pushing for an arms embargo and stringent sanctions on Israel to tangibly motivate an immediate halt and reversal of its abhorrent conduct. Instead, Israeli soldiers gleefully post TikTok videos of themselves blowing up buildings or film themselves torturing Palestinians while Palestinians struggle to document their own genocide in the hope of compelling the world to act. And yet no one has. In short, international law has no meaning – not to Israel, which systematically violates it without consequence, nor to Palestinians, who have never been protected by it.”
As with the guidance around language, the standards for balance remain the same: “Casualty figures – deaths and injuries – should always be attributed when included in stories. This can come from wire services such as the Associated Press or Reuters. Figures from combatants can also be cited. We should strive for balance and always cite figures from both sides.” There have been times when an article published in The Globe has missed that bar by missing an attribution, and in those cases, the newsroom has sought to correct the omission as quickly as possible, in accordance with the Editorial Code of Conduct. (I wrote about the differences between the standards for news reporting and opinion articles in my Nov. 3, 2024, column.)
Every complaint or error report triggers an investigation, which can take a few minutes or may require weeks, depending upon the complexity of the issue. If The Globe’s reporting does not meet Code of Conduct standards, that fact will be acknowledged and the article in question will be appropriately and transparently corrected.
But a complaint is not a guarantee of a specific outcome. Just as journalists must approach the process of reporting fully prepared to have any of their assumptions disproved, those who write in with concerns or complaints about The Globe’s reporting should keep in mind that the investigation could reveal a different conclusion than expected. In all cases, the facts tell the story.