September 19, 2025 – for immediate release

The National NewsMedia Council (NNC) found that a complaint about a March 25, 2025, news article published by the National Post was resolved due to corrective action.

The article reported on the arrest and detention of Palestinian filmmaker Hamdan Balal. Jason Toney, the director of media advocacy with Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East, filed a complaint stating concern with the article’s use of language, sourcing, and lack of context. In particular, the complainant raised concern that the article, originally produced by the Jewish News Syndicate (JNS), used the term “Judea” to refer to the West Bank, and did not cite information from sources other than the Israeli Defense Forces.

In response to a clarification question from the NNC about the editorial treatment of JNS content, the news organization explained that it generally makes changes to third-party content to ensure that the use of language is consistent with its own style. It also noted that the article in question was quite brief and that it would review the piece in light of the concern about a lack of context.

When informed of the NNC complaint, the news organization updated the article to adjust the language and include more information. The updated article included statements from the filmmaker and identifies the specific geographic location where the incident occurred as Susya in the West Bank.

The updated article included an editor’s note stating, “This story has been updated to include comment from Hamdan Ballal and others.” It also states that it was produced with files from The Associated Press.

The NNC previously issued a decision on a similar matter from the same complainant related to the use of content from the same wire service.  

In reviewing this recent complaint, the NNC acknowledged that the news organization stated it generally takes steps to ensure language is consistent across the news organization’s content. In this case, it was Council’s view that the updates to the piece addressed the concern about consistent language by referring to the specific place in the West Bank.

In light of the news organization’s general practices, Council’s previous recommendation related to language, and the update to the article, Council found the issue about language use resolved due to corrective action.

With regard to context, Council found that the updated article included more information from the perspective of the filmmaker and noted that the Israeli military did not immediately respond to the allegations. The updated article notes that the additional information was based on reports from the AP. For this reason, Council found that the updates addressed the issue of context.

While the NNC supported the updates to the article to ensure accuracy and relevant context in the particular news story, Council emphasized its previous recommendation to include more information about the perspective of the original content provider. By providing more information about the stated perspective and approach of the content provider, readers would be able to assess the information in context.

That said, for the reasons outlined above, Council found that the specific complaint about accuracy and context was resolved due to corrective action.