Editor-in-chief of the National Post Rob Roberts, left, in conversation with journalist Dave Gordon at Upstanders Canada’s May 24 Media Bias event at Temple Sholom. (photo by Anna-Mae Wiesenthal)
Media Bias: How Media has Mainstreamed Antisemitism and What to Do About It was the first live event held by Upstanders Canada. It featured a conversation between journalist Dave Gordon and National Post editor-in-chief Rob Roberts, and took place in Vancouver on May 24 and in Ottawa May 26. Roberts was honoured with the inaugural Upstander of the Year Award.
Upstanders Canada, founded by Pat Johnson, encourages Canadians, particularly non-Jewish Canadians, to take a stand against antisemitism and antizionism. He started the event hosted at Temple Sholom by highlighting that Canada, which, until recent years, had been viewed as a nation of decency, fairness and pluralism, is now an international hotspot of antisemitism.
Janet Dirks, a retired CTV National News reporter who worked for a time in Jerusalem, wondered, in her introduction of the featured speakers, why most newsrooms in the country have been reluctant to delve into the barrage of antisemitic incidents in Canada.
“Is there fear of angering those who identify as antizionist, anti-Israel? Is there a dread of covering something that might be too controversial? The fear of getting too many emails criticizing the story treatment from both sides? Is there a narrative I’m not understanding?” asked Dirks, who is a member of the Upstanders board.
Citing a May 9 Toronto Sun editorial, she said, “The problem with appealing to our governments and, indeed, to civil society to combat the unprecedented rise of hatred against Canada’s Jewish citizens is that they were the ones who enabled it. By failing to punish countless examples of Jew-hatred ever since Hamas’s terrorist attack on Israel on Oct. 7, they have normalized antisemitism in Canada.”
The Media Bias event took place on the heels of a May 11 opinion essay by veteran New York Times journalist Nicholas Kristof, which accused Israeli prison guards and others of sexually abusing Palestinians. The Netanyahu government has subsequently sued the newspaper for defamation.
Roberts faulted the Times for not researching the allegations and examining if they withstood scrutiny.
“It’d be my opinion that every human institution is going to have some problems, but you look at that report and you look at the nature of the allegations, and they just don’t hold the ring of truth,” he said. “The other thing I’ll say is this, you don’t have to publish everything that’s submitted to you, even by the marquee columnists.”
Gordon led the discussion towards the National Post and what he called its decidedly pro-Zionist stance, distinguishing it from other papers in Canada, with the possible exception of the Toronto Sun. Roberts said his newspaper has sought to be “fair and balanced” – not inherently pro-Israel.
The editor spoke about the paper’s decision to drop the Associated Press and the Canadian Press. The decision wasn’t made based on the organizations’ reports from the Middle East, said Roberts, but rather the Post’s preference to not run the same material as other papers. Nonetheless, he did not express a high opinion of the AP’s reporting from the region.
“We all know the story about the bomb that Israel dropped in the hospital – except they didn’t. That was AP, and it took them several hours to fix it,” Roberts said. The Post did not post that AP story, he noted, saying, “… we can’t simply trust even this venerable old wire service to do the job properly.”
Roberts maintained that the Post’s policies of fact-checking and fostering open debate have served the paper well at a time when other publications are struggling.
“We try to be very responsible,” he said. “The fact that people are asking whether journalism is dead is really good for us because we’re thriving at the moment,” adding that the Post is currently hiring.
Following the conversation, Brandon Lu, an Allied Voices for Israel student ambassador at the University of British Columbia, spoke briefly on the importance of a free press and an informed, discerning public.
At the end of the program, Johnson announced the creation of a new initiative – inspired by Selina Robinson – called Ask a Jew. Modeled on the Human Library concept, Ask a Jew promotes dialogue between curious, open-minded people and Jewish individuals for one-on-one online conversations. The hope is that such conversations will help build understanding and human connection.
Robinson, the author of Truth Be Told – about her experiences with antisemitism, notably within the BC NDP government, in which she was a senior minister for years – has been donating revenues from book sales to Upstanders Canada and the Parents Circle-Families Forum, a joint Israeli-Palestinian organization that advocates for peace. Robinson joined the Upstanders event in Vancouver, presenting Johnson with another cheque in addition to revenues from the book donated previously.
Iddo Moed, ambassador of the state of Israel to Canada, attended the Ottawa event and addressed the audience, emphasizing the importance of allyship.
For more information about Upstanders Canada, visit upstanderscanada.com.
Sam Margolis has written for the Globe and Mail, the National Post, UPI and MSNBC.