Week in Review

The word “terrorism”

An e-mail last week called my attention to a recent announcement by the Miami Herald saying it would not “shy away” from using the word “terrorist” to describe Palestinian Arabs who murder Israelis for political purposes.

“It’s Herald policy to use the most neutral language available in a given situation. We, too, label those who fight for a cause as militants,” the Miami newspaper said, according to the e-mail. “But unlike some of our colleagues, we see a line where a militant becomes a terrorist and we don’t shy away from the latter word. When a suicide bomber blows up a bus carrying innocent civilians, it’s an act of terrorism, not militancy.”

The e-mail concluded with this appeal: “Once again, we urge The [Washington] Times to make sure that in writing and editing its own copy and in editing that of wire services and stringers, to be sure to properly identify those committing terrorism as terrorists, not militants or activists.”

The e-mail came from a group called the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America, or CAMERA, which describes itself on its Web site as “a media-monitoring, research and membership organization devoted to promoting accurate and balanced coverage of Israel and the Middle East.”

As a nonpartisan organization, the Web site says, “CAMERA takes no position with regard to American or Israeli political issues or with regard to ultimate solutions to the Arab-Israeli conflict.” However, in a quick scan of its latest postings, almost every one of the 20 items accused one news outlet or another of being unfair to Israel or too sympathetic to the Palestinians. The others called attention to new reports accusing the Palestinians of deceitfulness.

This is not the first time we have seen an interest group setting itself up as an impartial monitor of the media in an attempt to push the public debate in one direction or another. Both liberal and conservative groups issue stinging reports on media coverage of American issues in much the same way.

Our first reaction on receiving an e-mail like the one from CAMERA is to bristle a little and think, “We don’t need any self-appointed watchdog to tell us how to do our jobs.” But we also realize that public feedback is an integral part of what we do, and the people at CAMERA are raising an important issue.

Who is a terrorist?

The word “terrorist” is one of the most powerful and emotive words we ever use, particularly so following the September 11 attacks. Any group that acquires the terrorist label is almost automatically seen as an enemy of civilization deserving of no political rights or consideration.

The word is easily applied to groups like al Qaeda, which routinely aim their vicious attacks at civilian targets in support of ill-defined political goals. But we also see governments around the world trying to hang the label on guerrilla organizations in places like Kashmir, Sri Lanka and southern Sudan, where the justice of their cause is more ambiguous.

Where do we draw the line? One news agency where I worked some years ago, having decided it could not fairly judge who was a terrorist and who was a freedom fighter, chose simply to call all such irregular fighters “guerrillas.”

That decision, of course, served simply to infuriate groups like CAMERA and others who considered themselves victims of terrorist attacks.

At The Washington Times, our thinking is much closer to that of the Miami Herald, though we have never spelled out a formal policy. We have never hesitated to use the word “terrorist” to describe, for example, a suicide bombing on a civilian bus, but we try not to use the word indiscriminately.

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines terrorism simply as “the systematic use of terror especially as a means of coercion.” We would probably go a little further and limit it mainly to attacks against civilian rather than military targets.

Thus a suicide bomb in a crowded Tel Aviv restaurant is a terrorist attack without question. But we have been slower to use the word to describe an ambush of Israeli military forces patrolling in the occupied West Bank. This, I suppose, will get me another e-mail from CAMERA.

• David W. Jones is the foreign editor of The Washington Times. His e-mail address is djones@washingtontimes.com.