World Service will not call US attacks terrorism
Matt Wells Thursday November 15, 2001 The Guardian
The BBC World Service has taken a policy decision not to describe the
attacks on the US as "terrorism".
Mark Damazer, the BBC's deputy director of news, said the service would
lose its reputation for impartiality around the world if it were seen to
use such a subjective term.
While guests and contributors to World Service programmes may describe the
deliberate flying of jet planes into the World Trade Centre as acts of
terror, news correspondents use more neutral terms such as "attack".
Mr Damazer, speaking in a debate about television coverage of September 11
at the Newsworld conference in Barcelona, insisted the decision was not
intended to downgrade the horror of the event. But if the word terrorism
was used there would be implications for the description of more
subjective acts of terror such as those carried out by Hamas in the Middle
East or ETA in Spain.
He said of the attack on the US: "However appalling and disgusting it was,
there will nevertheless be a constituency of your listeners who don't
regard it as terrorism. Describing it as such could downgrade your status
as an impartial and independent broadcaster."
Because of its reputation for impartiality, the World Service has to be
careful about its use of language. It does not usually describe IRA
attacks as terrorism, because they may not be seen as such in a world context.