September 27 update follows. Ever since Reuter's notorious editorial decision not to call terrorists "terrorists" was affirmed following the 9/11 attacks, the news agency has zealously adhered to a policy of softening the face of terrorism. In reporting on the September 22 suicide bombing in Jerusalem's French Hill, it has gone a step further.
The intense controversy surrounding the reluctance of Reuters and other media outlets to use the word “terrorist” says a lot about how abhorrent are the deeds of those branded with the term. Terrorists themselves typically shun the label, preferring euphemisms that disguise their actions.
After carrying out double suicide bombings which killed 16 and wounded over 100, Hamas distributed leaflets calling the attacks a message to Israel that her military efforts against the organization have failed. Despite all evidence to the contrary, Reuters provided a platform for the terrorist group's propaganda, blindly disseminating Hamas' bravado as fact.
Reuters and Associated Press covered the slaying of two Israeli soldiers by Hezbollah terrorists on July 20, 2004 in reports that could have come straight from Al Manar, Hezbollah's main propaganda engine.
Reuters, the influential news agency headquartered in London, whose wire service stories appear in print, broadcast and web media outlets, routinely uses partisan, distorted terminology in its Middle East news reports. It not only bans the word "terrorism" generally but uses language that continually seeks to explain and obscure Palestinian violence. Thus Reuters regularly characterizes Palestinian terror against Israel as "the Palestinian uprising for statehood" or "uprising for Palestinian independence" or "uprising for an independent state."