BBC - stepping through the looking-glass*

In the wonderland where BBC creates its information policy, you just can't figure out their logic without a reference to a fairy tale. This case carries all the necessary traces of magic - as opposite to logic.

So what the BBC is actually saying here is that it makes use of the term “Jewish terrorists” – including not in direct quotes and in apparent contradiction to BBC editorial guidelines on ‘Language when Reporting Terrorism’ – because Israeli officials use such wording.

However, the rub lies in the fact that Palestinian officials will never be found using comparable terminology to describe their own citizens who carry out attacks against Israelis and so the BBC will not apply similar practice when reporting those stories.

The obvious outcome of that is a double standard according to which the accuracy of the terminology used by the BBC is dependent upon the honesty of the government or authority concerned – and that is clearly a big problem for a media organisation supposedly committed to accurate and impartial reporting.

Only, if BBC are such sticklers to the terminology used by others, why not go ahead and call them "Shahids" ("martyrs", if the push comes to shove) and be done with it?

(*) With deepest apologies to the memory of Lewis Carroll.