Freedom fighter???
צילום: איי אף פי
No more ‘freedom fighters’ in ABC
Australian Broadcasting Corporation decides to drop term 'freedom fighter' from its style guide, when referring to Hamas, Hizbullah terrorists
An Australian Jewish media watchdog, Liberal senators and other Jewish leaders have given cautious praise to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s decision to drop the term “freedom fighter” from its style guide.
The ABC’s head of news and current affairs, John Cameron, announced the changes to the style guide last Friday, saying it was part of a routine update.
He reportedly described the old reference to “freedom fighter” as “a note of caution and education rather than instruction."
How to refer a terrorist?
Jewish community leaders were disappointed when the national broadcaster failed to announce the change earlier this year, following Cameron’s admission during a Senate Estimates Committee hearing in May that in certain circumstances, Hamas, Hizbullah and Islamic Jihad could justifiably be classed as “terrorists”.
Ralph Zwier, an executive member of Issues of Concern for Justice and Society (ICJS), which has campaigned for changes to the ABC’s style guide and its complaints process for the past few years, said the about-face was “a step in the right direction but not much more than that.”
Zwier said the change to the editorial guidelines “does not represent a full admission that people who target civilians for political motives are terrorists.”
“If my car-insurance company can provide a neat definition of terrorism as political activity targeting civilians, then surely the ABC can,” he said.
Allegations of bias
Zwier said the change to the style guide is the second major retreat by the ABC on the question of bias in the past few weeks, with the public broadcaster admitting last month that a segment on one of its children’s current-affairs programs had given an unbalanced narrative of the Israeli-Hizbullah conflict.
Concetta Fierravanti-Wells, one of three Liberal senators who grilled ABC executives in the Senate Estimates Committee in May over allegations of bias, welcomed the change: “I just wonder why it took action from myself, Senator Ronaldson and Senator Santoro for the ABC to wake up to its immoral rules on describing terrorists.”
Ronaldson added: “I am pleased that the appalling failure of ABC journalists to label terrorists as terrorists appears to be coming to an end ... We must not be afraid to label such acts as terrorism. We must not be afraid to describe such acts in moral terms as evil.”
Australia/Israel and Jewish Affairs Council executive director Dr Colin Rubenstein said the ABC’s decision to excise the term “freedom fighter” from its guide is a “welcome development because the ABC has frequently and verbal confusion when discussing terrorism.”
“However, the task of ensuring fair and balanced news coverage and living up to the spirit of its charter will require that the ABC do more to rectify its shortcomings in this area on a day-to-day basis.”
Reprinted with permission of the Australian Jewish News
