Posted on 09/28/2001 7:22:35 AM PDT by Bob Evans
With Carl Limbacher and NewsMax.com Staff
For the story behind the story...
Friday, Sept. 28, 2001
Some Media Banning Use of the 'T' Word
First it was a ban on wearing U.S. flag pins. Now some journalists are being told they can't call a terrorist a terrorist because they might appear to be judging the thugs who slaughter innocent people.
CNN, for example, says it wants to "define people by their actions," a spokeswoman for the cable network told the Wall Street Journal.
She said that the kamikaze pilots flying the planes that hit the World Trade Center and Pentagon, for example, would be called "alleged hijackers," not "terrorists," because, she said, "CNN cannot convict anybody; nothing has been judged by a court of law."
Reuters has restated its policy of forbidding journalists to use the word "terrorist" in describing the attacks or their perpetrators, the Journal reports. Reuters reporters, however, can quote others using the term.
"We do not characterize the subjects of news stories but instead report their actions, identity and background," the company said in a written statement, adding that it has a similar proscription against the term 'freedom fighter.'
"The integrity of those accounts - and the safety of our journalists in hot spots around the world who provide them - depend on our adherence to these long-held principles," the statement said.
The Wall Street Journal, on the other hand, says it has told staffers they can use the word terrorist, but that "it should be used carefully, and specifically, to describe those people and nongovernmental organizations that plan and execute acts of violence against civilian or noncombatant targets, for example," not merely sympathizers with such people or groups.
The Associated Press refers to the Black Tuesday attacks as "terrorist attacks" because "we consider they meet the criterion," Managing Editor Michael Silverman said. Sometimes terrorists may call themselves freedom fighters, but "a lot of convicted murderers don't like the definition of themselves either," he added.
The Journal reported that the major broadcast and cable TV networks, including General Electric Co.'s NBC, Viacom Inc.'s CBS, Walt Disney Co.'s ABC and News Corp.'s Fox News, also said they have no new policies on such descriptive words or phrases.
The toughest response on the use of the word came from Bill Wheatley, vice president of NBC News, who told the Journal:
"A group of people commandeered airplanes and used them as guided missiles against thousands of people; if that doesn't fit the definition of terrorism, what does?" he asked. "We have no intention of changing."
Question to CNN: We have the identities and pictures of the people who commandeered the 4 jets. Since we'll never be able to try and convict them, will you forever refer to them as "alleged?"
Dateline Sept. 11, 2051, SONN (Satellites of Osama New Network): This is Christianne Ananpour III (sic) reporting. Today is the 50th anniversary of the day that changed the world forever, that day in 2001 four commercial jetliners crashed in a 90-minute time period in the northeastern section of what was then The United States of America. Two of them crashed into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, although subsequent investigations by Interpol revealed that lit cigarettes were the more likely cause of the subsequent explosions. A third jet crashed into what was then called the Pentagon, killing 185 members of what was then the Satanist military establishment of the United States, when a tractor beam inside the building drew the jet into it. The fourth was inexplicably hijacked by white male cowboys, who, not knowing how to fly, crashed the plan into an abandoned strip mine in Pennsylvania. 7,000 people died in all of these incidents, most notably nineteen Middle Eastern men in their 20s and 30s who were on their way to a peace conference in Los Angeles."
"These incidents were the first in a long series of accidents and mishaps that occurred over a 10-year period that caused what was then the United States to turn itself in to the United Nations to ensure its security. Now back to Chelsea Clinton, Jr."
Billybob
Drop the word handle and you about got it.
Ted Fondas Communist New's Nitwit's are a friggin joke.
And BTW this alledged show of trust by the cabinet members flying commercial AC this AM is also a joke. As you know EOD was/is/maybe part of these folks security details and if "You & I" had a "team" to clear and search and secure "our" flights then heck yes I'd feel safe flying ncommercial.
I guarentee you there is no less than 20 security folks with them on those flights.
That is one of the few things GW's team has done of late that is just a slap in the face of intelligent citizens.......uhmmmmmm I guess the trigger word is intelligent eh ?
I will not fly commercial or support that industry until the flight deck crew is allowed to carry sidearms......period
Stay Safe.
They remain irredeemable. Tell your cable company and every hotel you stay at that you want FOX News-Fair and Balanced.
If you have cable, you can have CNN and its sister stations listed as restricted channels and blocked.
Stay well - stay safe - Stay armed - Yorktown
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