Kevin Gowen wrote:

> Declan Murphy wrote:
> 
>> Kevin Gowen wrote:
>>
>>> Declan Murphy wrote:
>>>
>>>> Kevin Gowen wrote:
>>
>>>>> Or call Islamofascists who shoot children in the back "insurgents" 
>>>>> or militants. Actually, the "news" services such as Reuters already 
>>>>> do that.
>>>>
>>>> Why would someone call insurgents, the resistance, militants, 
>>>> freedom fighters or patriots something like "Islamofascists", and 
>>>> then claim that newswires were not being objective through their use 
>>>> of language?
>>>
>>> Because they are not. What does my terminology have to do with it? 
>>> Nothing.
>>
>> The newswires are not being objective in their use of language?
> 
> Yes, they aren't. I am still trying to figure out why you are having 
> problems understanding these simple declarative statements.

No, they are. What I understand is that you disagree with wires using 
simple descriptive words such as for instance, "Palestinian Medical 
officials", to describe, for instance, Palestinian Medical officials and 
that you disagree with their insistance that their customers either use 
the text as is, or remove the byline if they choose to alter the Reuters 
product.

>>> Reuters and other "news" services refuse to even use the word 
>>> "terrorist". 
>>
>> Good - IMO a step in the right direction. There is an enormous 
>> difference between news and infotainment. The distinctions are 
>> becoming increasingly blurred, and not for the better.
> 
>  From an editorial in the Ottowa Citizen on the topic:
> "Terrorism is a technical term. It describes a modus operandi, a tactic. 
> We side with security professionals who define terrorism as the 
> deliberate targeting of civilians in pursuit of a political goal.<snip>

As the grandson of a "terrorist", I afraid I had a hard time keeping a 
straight face reading that editorial. A terrorist is not a word 
"defined" to mean the deliberate targeting of civilians in pursuit of a 
political goal, nor is there any universal definition. Michael Collins 
was a terrorist. Nelson Mandela was a terrorist. Menachem Begin was a 
terrorist. Timothy McVeigh was a terrorist. Except of course, to any of 
their supporters or sympathizers.

>>> http://tinyurl.com/3lhro
>>
>> A very sensible policy.
> 
> Indeed. It is right and proper for a news service to couch its language 
> in response to intimidation.

On the contrary, it is right and proper for a news service to provide 
news, as they are doing. It is their customers, who use/misuse the news 
service product to fill in the gaps between the Nike and Coke 
commercials and decide to sex up the text into something often quite 
different to what was collected by the reporter in the field who are 
responding to intimidation - primarily from their advertizers and 
shareholders.

-- 
"A large number of aliens have been applying themselves to studying in 
various areas inclusive of studying Japanese" - Masuda Nobuya, Director 
General, Immigration Bureau.