Hall: BBC will not call IS ‘Daesh’
From the post:
According to The Times, the director general has said that the broadcaster will not adopt the name ‘Daesh’ in place of IS as it was a ‘pejorative’ label used by enemies of the group, including Assad supporters in Syria.
Use of the name could be interpreted as support for those enemies, thereby damaging the BBC’s impartiality, the DG reasoned in his response to an open letter from 120 cross-party MPs.
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In an age when media outlets self-censor themselves at the hint of government displeasure, Tony Hall‘s stand is a refreshing one.
The group calls itself, Islamic State and who better to know their name?
Reporters, bloggers and anyone who cares about non-partisan reporting (note, I did not say objective) should use the name, Islamic State in English language publications.
Feel free to use other terms, such as extremist, militant, terrorist, so long as you apply them equally to everyone. If you label one attack on a social gathering as a “terrorist attack,” then all attacks on social gatherings should be terrorist attacks. A car bomb is just as indiscriminate as a cruise missile or “smart” bomb.
Suggestion: Reporting on the Islamic State would be more balanced, if the Islamic State assisted journalists in seeing the results of attacks against it. It is hard for a Western public to understand civilians casualties other than through the lens of Western media.