Just as some Western press organizations have debated whether to call a terrorist a terrorist – Reuters refused to use the T-word to describe the nineteen Sept. 11 suicide hijackers – news media in the Arab world are also grappling with the same question – sort of.
Most of the Arab media use the term “martyrs” when referring to Muslim terrorist attackers – such as the Palestinian suicide bombers who target Israeli civilians in Pizza parlors and caf?s. That’s why officials and intellectuals in the Arab world have been sharply critical of the London-based Saudi daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, which uses the term “suicide attackers” in its news reporting.
Of course, on the paper’s editorial pages, the “suicide attackers” are freely referred to as heroes and martyrs.
At the “Towards the New Arab Media” symposium held last week in Tripoli, Lebanon, Syrian Minister of Information Adnan Omran was asked for his opinion on media “that call the martyrs ‘terrorists’ and ‘killers.'” His comments were translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute, or MEMRI.
“To tell the truth,” replied Omran, “many Western terms have begun to infiltrate our media. We would like to hope that this infiltration stems from na?vet?. But what is even more dangerous is the infiltration of ideas. Two days ago, we heard one [Arab journalist] say in a radio interview that ‘suicide operations against the Zionist enemy are acts of violence and terror.’ Even if the life of that person is more precious to him than his land and his honor … he must not interfere with the martyr who has decided to revive his homeland by sacrificing himself; he must let the martyr do his duty [and leave him alone].
Condemning the U.S. for asking Arab countries to condemn terrorism, Omran charges Americans with “denying facts from their own history in which they take pride – as we have seen in Hollywood-produced movies on [American military] suicide missions behind enemy lines.”
Referring to the Japanese kamikaze operations during World War II, Omran said: “All this was done by peoples to attain their independence and secure their legitimate rights. Yet the heroic Fidai [martyrdom] operations in Israel that harm the Zionists occupying the land are considered by the U.S. to be a great crime. This is an [attempt] to hold in contempt not only the honor of our faith, but even Western societies’ own values.”
In an article titled “Terrorist, Suicide Attacker, Martyr,” Al-Sharq Al-Awsat Editor in Chief Abd Al-Rahman Al-Rashed responded to critics like the Syrian foreign minister, writing:
- In our journalistic work, we deal with conflicting opinions and [hear] angry voices: Why don’t you call them martyrs, why don’t you call Sharon a “criminal,” why, why? They want to turn the battle into one of words instead of one of genuine issues.
The answer is that we ultimately prefer to act professionally, for a simple reason: [A professional approach] achieves the most important goal – full journalistic service. We are not opposed to bias in favor of the oppressed Palestinian citizen or to expressing objections to Israeli aggression. But when we report the news, we do this with knife-sharp neutrality. It must be done thus so that the reader puts professional trust in us.
In our paper, Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, we strive to maintain restraint in reporting. This is the right dictated to us by the profession, not the readers.
We describe news events in a neutral manner, in accordance with the situation in the field, and we use the term “suicide operations.” However, on the editorial page, we tend towards what we think is right, and call them martyrdom [operations] – also in the editorial expressing the paper’s official opinion. We allow every columnist the freedom to use the words “suicide,” “martyrdom,” or “terrorist operation,” in accordance with each one’s opinion.
The great majority among us call it “martyrdom.” Others tend towards the old term – Fidai [martyrdom] operations. The Israelis protested against the use of the term “suicide operations,” claiming that this term expresses heroism. They demanded the use of the term ‘terrorist’ operations. Some American officials call a martyrdom [operation] an operation of deliberate murder – a crime of homicide instead of suicide. But most of the Western papers have refused to give in to the pressure and kept the word “suicide,” which they saw as a newsworthy word …
The editor in chief then admitted that although Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat occasionally condemns terrorism, he doesn’t really mean it: “Even Abu Ammar [Arafat] himself sees these operations as acts of violence, and he has been forced to condemn them officially many times,” he said, but then added: “This, of course, is a political position, not a personal position …”
“The rule,” said Al-Rashed, “is to differentiate between a news item and an op-ed. On the editorial page, we write however we like. We describe Sharon as a criminal and the dead as martyrs. This is the arena for expressing opinions. Yet news items we write like a police report, expressing no opinion.”
He added: “In this newspaper, we do not pride ourselves on whining, but on something more important – reporting news in a way that will help people crystallize their opinions and increase their understanding …”
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