The Manbottle Library
The Manbottle Library  :  Humor  :  Reuters on the word 'Terrorist'

Reuters on the word 'Terrorist'


Apparently concerned about the misinterpretation of language at this highly charged time, Reuters's head of global news, Stephen Jukes, has directed his staff to avoid the word "terrorist" in describing those who flew airliners into the Pentagon and the World Trade Center. "We all know that one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter," Jukes said. We have learned from not necessarily reliable sources that the following memo, which we have not bothered to authenticate, was subsequently circulated to all Reuters bureaus:

FROM: Chief, Reuters archive

TO: All archive staff

In keeping with the spirit of the recent directive from our global news head, all archived Reuters stories are to be revised to eliminate judgmental language and maintain strict moral neutrality. Among the changes we will be making:

• No more "Jack the Ripper" references. London's most famous mystery man (the term "murderer" is no longer acceptable) will henceforth be referred to as "Jack the amateur tracheotomist and abdominal surgeon."

• The word "assassin" will not be applied to John Wilkes Booth. He will be described as "an actor who briefly visited President Lincoln's box at Ford's Theatre."

• The phrase "Japanese sneak attack on Pearl Harbor" will be replaced by "an unannounced Sunday morning aerial tour of Oahu's coastline by Japanese pilots."

• The Khmer Rouge will no longer be identified as "genocidal guerrillas." Their new modifier is "forceful farm labor recruiters."

• "Truck bomber" will be deleted from all references to Timothy McVeigh and will be replaced by the descriptor, "the man who left a vehicle containing volatile cargo in a no-parking zone."


-- from The Washington Post ( http://www.washingtonpost.com )

Sunday, October 7, 2001; Page B03



This compliation is copyright © 2000-2014
Wiggins Professional Services, Inc.

Individual items contained herein are the
copyright of their respective owners.