Terrorism is their game, but don’t call them ‘terrorists’!
According to The Telegraph, BBC News has begun editing out the word “terrorist” from its coverage of the London Underground and bus bombings.
This editorial decision is justified by guidelines which state that credibility is undermined by “careless use of words which carry emotional or value judgments.” According to the BBC, “the word ‘terrorist’ itself can be a barrier rather than an aid to understanding” and should be “avoided.”
Rod Liddle, former editor of the Today program has said that the BBC is guilty of “institutionalized political correctness” when covering Muslims, particularly. The interesting thing about all of this is that their removal the word “terrorist” is more of an emotional value judgment than the use of it. What happened in London was terrorism. Was it not?
If the BBC is truly instituting “political correctness” regarding Muslims, then their avoidance of the word “terrorism” says more about their views than biased reporting. That is, if they seek to protect the Muslim community by nixing the word terrorist, it becomes clear that they think of Muslims when they use the word.
Here’s the kicker: Al Qaeda wants credit for the attack. So, is this really an issue of “emotion” or “values”? Seems to me it’s more about fear of reporting the facts. The BBC knows that this attack has the potential to rally support for the “War on Terror”, a war that the Beeb would love for it’s readership to consider unnecessary. This is a simple case of editorializing the news, and it’s bad journalism.
