Aknauta
03-06-2003, 11:51 AM
Israelinsider.com
Using the appropriate Middle East terminology
By Alexander Dym****s and Russian-American journalists March 5, 2003
Translated from Russian by N.S. Schwartz.
We have become increasingly concerned by the media's use of inequitable and highly politicized terminology regarding the Middle East. This offensive and biased terminology was innovated by the K.G.B. in the late 60s in order to propagandize the cause of the P.L.O. This warping of language in an Orwellian fashion to serve the dictates of a political agenda was done in order to convince the world of the existence of a nonexistent "Palestinian nation" and its right to Israel's land and since then most of us have come to adopt terms such as "Palestinians," "the Palestinian nation," "Occupied territory," "Palestinian-Israeli conflict," and "the West Bank," into our everyday vocabulary. This misleading lexicon was placed into our language for the sole purpose of biasing language itself to serve the political agenda of a particular group and the use of this terminology by the press serves only to promote the agenda of one side which is contrary to the elemental principle of journalism, an evenhanded reporting of the story.
There is a place for activism, but it is on the editorial page rather than the front page. By conflating the two, the integrity of the press itself becomes open to question. By parroting the propaganda of one side in a two-sided conflict, the media shifts from reporting the story to becoming the PR outlet for one side. This is a denigration of its noble mission which is to report the news and undermines its fundamental mission in a democratic society which is that of informing the public, rather than mixing propaganda and news together to the extent that the two can no longer be told apart as it the common practice in totalitarian states.
All of the territory of Biblical Palestine, which includes both of the East and the West Banks of the Jordan River, are called the Home of the Jewish Nation. (http://web.israelinsider.co m/bin/en.jsp?enPage=ViewsP age&enDisplay=view&enDispWhat=object&enDispWho=Article%5E l2041&enZone=Views&enVersion=0&)
Using the appropriate Middle East terminology
By Alexander Dym****s and Russian-American journalists March 5, 2003
Translated from Russian by N.S. Schwartz.
We have become increasingly concerned by the media's use of inequitable and highly politicized terminology regarding the Middle East. This offensive and biased terminology was innovated by the K.G.B. in the late 60s in order to propagandize the cause of the P.L.O. This warping of language in an Orwellian fashion to serve the dictates of a political agenda was done in order to convince the world of the existence of a nonexistent "Palestinian nation" and its right to Israel's land and since then most of us have come to adopt terms such as "Palestinians," "the Palestinian nation," "Occupied territory," "Palestinian-Israeli conflict," and "the West Bank," into our everyday vocabulary. This misleading lexicon was placed into our language for the sole purpose of biasing language itself to serve the political agenda of a particular group and the use of this terminology by the press serves only to promote the agenda of one side which is contrary to the elemental principle of journalism, an evenhanded reporting of the story.
There is a place for activism, but it is on the editorial page rather than the front page. By conflating the two, the integrity of the press itself becomes open to question. By parroting the propaganda of one side in a two-sided conflict, the media shifts from reporting the story to becoming the PR outlet for one side. This is a denigration of its noble mission which is to report the news and undermines its fundamental mission in a democratic society which is that of informing the public, rather than mixing propaganda and news together to the extent that the two can no longer be told apart as it the common practice in totalitarian states.
All of the territory of Biblical Palestine, which includes both of the East and the West Banks of the Jordan River, are called the Home of the Jewish Nation. (http://web.israelinsider.co m/bin/en.jsp?enPage=ViewsP age&enDisplay=view&enDispWhat=object&enDispWho=Article%5E l2041&enZone=Views&enVersion=0&)