Tuesday, July 12, 2005

As the language goes, so goes the culture.

BBC No Evil

"The BBC has re-edited some of its coverage of the London Underground and bus bombings to avoid labelling the perpetrators as 'terrorists,' " London's Daily Telegraph reports:

Early reporting of the attacks on the BBC's website spoke of terrorists but the same coverage was changed to describe the attackers simply as "bombers."

The BBC's guidelines state that its credibility is undermined by the "careless use of words which carry emotional or value judgments."

Consequently, "the word 'terrorist' itself can be a barrier rather than an aid to understanding" and its use should be "avoided," the guidelines say.

A blogger called Gene has some specific examples. This sort of thing actually poses a problem for American liberals, though obviously they aren't responsible for the Beeb's actions. But can they credibly deny that they share something of this apologetic mindset?
(Thanks to Best of the Web Today)

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