(Minneapolis Star Tribune) Kate Parry, Reader's Representative - The July 7 bombings in London were quickly labeled terrorist attacks by the wire services in the Star Tribune. But a July 12 suicide bombing outside a Netanya, Israel, shopping mall was attributed to "Islamic Jihad militants," a group on the U.S. State Department's list of terrorist organizations. Reinforcing the tendency to treat Israel differently is an entry in the Star Tribune stylebook which says Hamas is to be referred to as "a militant Islamic group." To my mind, when a person intent on a cause straps explosives to his body and detonates himself to harm nearby civilians, he and his supporters become terrorists. Period. The newspaper shouldn't shy away from the truth of plain language or hide behind the policies of the wire services.
2005-08-09 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive