Why Whitewash Terrorists?
In various items, including one earlier today, I’ve noticed that the New York Times goes out of its way to be nice to terrorists. Why is that? Well, I think I have a clue, provided to me very kindly by a reader. The reason is that they do “other things.” Really. I’m serious. Seems this reader asked the Times foreign desk about a story by Steve Erlanger that referred to Hamas as a “miltary” organization. There were a couple of responses, both making basically the same point. Here’s one: Military doesn’t just refer to armed services, according to my dictionary, but also “armed or fit for war.” We refer to Hamas as “considered a terrorist group by Israel, the United States and the European Union” since they also have many other roles among the Palestinians. The careful language is a signal of just how complicated the situation is, and just how carefully readers of all opinions read our coverage.
