Pity The Media: The Acrobatics They Have To Do When A Bomb Goes Off In Israel

It seems the media found itself in a quandary when it had to report the latest Palestinian terrorist attack: how best to avoid putting Palestinian Arabs in a bad light.

Usually they just labels Palestinian terrorists as 'militants', but now the media is getting more creative.
According to some of the headlines describing the bus bombing in Jerusalem:

o The Palestinian Arabs did not set off the bomb
o No Israelis were injured
o The bomb did it all by itself

HonestReporting's blog Backspin collected headlines illustrating how far the media will go to avoid labeling Palestinian Arabs as terrorists.

• BBC: Deadly Bombing Targets Jerusalem Bus Stop
• Sky News: Bomb Blast hits Bus Stop In Jerusalem
• AP: Bomb Hits Jerusalem Bus Stop

Backspin has snapshots of the headlines, and concludes:

Sadly, for some media outlets, it appears that it’s still too much to acknowledge the reality of terror or the reality of its victims. The bus stop in question may have been the location of the bomb but it certainly wasn’t the object of the terrorists’ hatred.

But Reuters takes a different tack altogether: according to Reuters, the bus bombing wasn't a terrorist attack--it was a military operation:

Police said it was a "terrorist attack" -- Israel's term for a Palestinian strike. It was the first time Jerusalem had been hit by such a bomb since 2004.

Jeffrey Goldberg addresses Reuters' absurdity:

Those Israelis and their crazy terms! I mean, referring to a fatal bombing of civilians as a "terrorist attack"? Who are they kidding? Everyone knows that a fatal bombing of Israeli civilians should be referred to as a "teachable moment." Or as a "venting of certain frustrations." Or as "an understandable reaction to Jewish perfidy." Or perhaps as "a very special episode of 'Cheers.'" Anything but "a terrorist attack." I suppose Reuters will mark the 10th anniversary of 9/11 by referring to the attacks as "an exercise in urban renewal."

The mind reels.

You can find this on the Reuters website in the section marked "Articles"--Reuters' term for exercises in editorial whitewash.

Technorati Tag: Palestinian Terrorism and Media Bias.