BY DAN
KENNEDY
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Monday, September 08, 2003
Terrorists and militants.
Globe ombudsman Christine Chinlund today tries to explain why
the paper refrains from identifying some organizations that engage in
terrorist acts as, well, you know, terrorists.
I would love to link to it, but it
has yet to be posted on the Globe's extremely fine new
website. Too bad. Chinlund takes a thoughtful approach that defies
easy lampooning -- much as it may seem absurd not to label Hamas, for
instance, a terrorist organization.
Her main point is that the
Globe will label terrorist acts as terrorist acts, but it
will, in most cases, not identify the groups that condone, plan, and
carry out those acts as terrorist organizations. She writes: "One
person's terrorist is another person's freedom fighter; it's not for
journalists to judge."
And she quotes Globe editor
Martin Baron as saying, "The overall approach here is to describe
events and present facts rather than to attack labels to individuals
or groups. We particularly seek to avoid hot-button language that has
become associated with a point of view ..."
Well, now. It strikes me (and the
American
Heritage Dictionary) that a
terrorist is a person who carries out acts of terrorism. And what is
terrorism? Let's turn
to the dictionary
again:
The unlawful use or
threatened use of force or violence by a person or an organized
group against people or property with the intention of
intimidating or coercing societies or governments, often for
ideological or political reasons.
Chinlund notes that the
Globe does not refer to Hamas as a terrorist organization,
although she observes, "The wisdom of this approach is,
understandably, the subject of renewed debate in the wake of the
recent, horrible bus bombing in Jerusalem that killed 21 people." And
she closes by noting an exception: Al Qaeda. To refrain from labeling
Al Qaeda as terrorist, she says, "ignores one of our most profound
national experiences, 9/11."
At the risk of oversimplifying, it
seems that, by this reasoning, a group that attacks us is terrorist,
but a group that attacks someone else -- like Israel -- is merely
"militant."
Chinlund has done an admirable job
of trying to explain the Globe's policy. But that doesn't mean
it makes a lot of sense.
Don't worry about media
concentration. The business is falling apart! So says
David
Kirkpatrick in today's
New York Times.
posted at 10:49 AM |
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Dan Kennedy is senior writer and media critic for the Boston Phoenix.
