4 simple Guardian rules for journalists reporting a terrorist attack in Israel (A brief primer)

Adam Levick
CiF Watch
23 March '11

Though Harriet Sherwood is apparently out of the country for a couple of weeks, the Guardian’s report on today’s terrorist attack in central Jerusalem, by Conal Urquhart, had all the standard components of story about violence directed at Israeli civilians. (Rest assured, Harriet, your narrative will be fully intact when you return.)

Here’s a primer.

Rule #1: Never use the word “terrorist” or “terrorism” as such language is inherently loaded, and influenced by one’s subjective opinion on how to define the word.

Indeed, Urquhart’s 503 word dispatch seemed at pains at times to avoid use of the word in any context. In fact, the word typically used in its place, “militant”, isn’t even used.

Rule #2: Use passive language which may obscure the fact that an intentional act of violence was perpetrated by Palestinian terrorists against innocent Israeli civilians:

The first example can be found in the title.

“Bomb explodes near Jerusalem station.”

So, a bomb just exploded, Conal? Was a human being even involved in this “explosion”?

Then:

“A bus has exploded opposite the central station in Jerusalem, killing one woman and injuring at least 25 people, four of them seriously.”

That’s funny, Conal, because, from what I hear anyway, the bus didn’t just “explode”. A bomb detonated near the vehicle after it was planted at a crowded bus stop.

Ah, sorry Conal. I was too quick to judge your work. By the second passage, you at least suggest that humans of some sort may have been involved:

“There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast, which police said was caused by a bomb planted close to Jerusalem’s main conference hall and central bus terminal.”

Rule#3: Avoid, whenever possible, reaching even the most obvious (politically inconvenient) conclusions regarding such attacks:

“Jerusalem suffered dozens of suicide bombings that targeted buses and restaurants during the second Palestinian uprising, or intifada. But the attacks have halted in recent years.”

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