CAMERA has criticized The Washington Post repeatedly for its inconsistent, contradictory use of the words terrorist and terrorism, and frequent, inaccurate substitution of militant for terrorist.
The following letter was published in the August 1, 2005 edition of the New Statesman. The magazine would not publish a formal correction to the factual error addressed in the letter. An editor told CAMERA that the magazine's policy is to publish letters instead of corrections to rectify errors. But according to a news database, the magazine publishes a fair number of corrections.
In the two weeks following the July 7 bombings in London, Washington Post writers frequently labeled the perpetrators as "terrorists" and the explosions themselves as "terrorist attacks." However, the Post only once described attacks by Palestinian Arabs against Israeli non-combatants during this period as "terrorism" or the perpetrators as "terrorists."
There is a striking double standard in terminology being used by many news organizations, such as the New York Times and Associated Press, regarding the terror attacks in London and the terror attack in Netanya, Israel. "Terror" and "terrorists" are liberally used in articles about the London bombing, while the articles about the Netanya terror attack studiously avoid the use of terror terminology.
In the aftermath of the London terror attacks, the media's scapegoat-Israel tendency has again reared its head. The Associated Press issued multiple stories reporting that British Prime Minister Tony Blair gave an interview on BBC Radio yesterday in which he linked the attacks against his country to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In fact, Blair never mentioned Israel or the Palestinians.
A July 11th article, "Evil Across Our Planet," in the British newspaper, the Sun, about "Islamic terrorism" purported to highlight "some of the worst atrocities" across the planet. Curiously, the list contained several attacks that killed none, one or just a few people, yet failed to list a single Islamist terror attack in Israel, many of which have killed more than 20 people.
Ha'aretz, the Israeli daily newspaper relied upon by the Israeli elite as well the Western press corps, has printed for the second time in just over a month the same factual error. The second error appeared yesterday despite the fact that editors had already been provided with documentation refuting the erroneous claim.
The Associated Press once again downplays Palestinian terror. A March 18, 2004 ;article by Mohammed Daraghmeh not only equates Israeli demonstrators with Palestinian terrorists, but minimizes the activities of those terrorists.