Ahead of the upcoming twenty-fifth anniversary of the September 11 attacks, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) distributed an internal memo to its editorial staff providing guidelines on how to describe the 2001 events. The memo explicitly instructs staff to avoid the phrase 'terrorist attack' when referring to the hijackings and subsequent destruction of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Both The Daily Wire and Breitbart report that this directive is a formal policy shift for the network. While the outlets agree on the existence of the memo and the specific instruction provided to staff, neither report includes a statement from the CBC explaining the rationale behind this editorial decision. The reports focus primarily on the instruction itself, framing the directive as a controversial departure from standard media practices regarding the 9/11 anniversary.

Because the CBC has not publicly commented on the leaked memo in these reports, the internal reasoning—such as whether the network is encouraging more descriptive language or attempting to adhere to a specific style guide—remains unaddressed. The coverage from both outlets is limited to the disclosure of the memo’s contents, leaving the broader context of the network's editorial policy unclear. Readers are presented with the instruction as a standalone fact without the network's perspective on why such a change in terminology was deemed necessary for their upcoming anniversary coverage.