BBC's Terrorist Ambiguity
People noticed before the 7/7 attacks that the BBC was shying away from the word "terrorist," using instead more PC terms like "militant." Turns out they actually had a rationale.
"The word 'terrorist' itself can be a barrier rather than an aid to understanding," the guidelines say. "We should try to avoid the term, without attribution. We should let other people characterize while we report the facts as we know them."
- Source
I would much rather see news organizations start calling spades spades, than have this sort of hair-splitting rhetoric under the guise of suppressing bias.
posted by Honus @ Tuesday, July 12, 2005
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