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American Morning

Big Question: Has Media Changed Its View on Mideast?

Aired April 15, 2002 - 09:40   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Our "Big Question" at this hour: has the media changed its view on the Mideast? "They're not martyrs, they're murderers." Well, that is the message president Bush has been trying to get across to Arab nations about suicide bombers. And after Friday's attack, in which a young Palestinian woman killed herself and six others in Jerusalem, the White House drove home their point by changing their language from "suicide bombers" to "homicide bombers."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARI FLEISCHER, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: These are not suicide bombers. These are not people who just kill themselves. These are people who deliberately go to murder others with no regard to the values of their own life. These are murderers. The president has said that in the Rose Garden, and I think that is just a more accurate description of what these people are doing. It's not suicide; it's murder.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZAHN: Well, the new terminology seems to have caught on in some places at least. The Israelis and some members of the American media have taken up the president's choice of words and are running with it.

And joining us now from Washington, Howard Kurtz, "Washington Post" media critic and host of the CNN program "RELIABLE SOURCES."

Good Monday morning to you.

Thanks, Howard, for joining us this morning.

HOWARD KURTZ, "THE WASHINGTON POST" Sure.

ZAHN: Before we talk about out how the media is characterizing these bomber, let's quickly review what Zalman Showal had to say from the Israeli government.

Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ZALMAN SHOWAL, FOREIGN POLICY ADVISER, ISRAEL: You have so far told us we shall only negotiate with suicide bombers, or as President Bush has said, homicide bombers. Enough already. (END VIDEO CLIP)

ZAHN: All right. So I think people would come to expect the Israeli government to use that kind of phraseology. Who in the media is using it?

KURTZ: Well, you know, the White House has a lot of impact on the kind of terms that the media uses. I haven't done a comprehensive survey, but while suicide bomber and homicide bomber are both technically accurate, I kind of like homicide bomber, because when you think about a suicide bomber, you think about somebody blowing themselves up.

And unfortunately, Paula, because there's been so much media attention on the Israeli tanks and troops in the West Bank, it's almost been reduced to another news there was another suicide bomber, and the horror of it I think has gotten lost. Homicide bomber, at least rhetorically, helps remind us that there is a pretty significant death toll from some of these attacks.

ZAHN: How about suicide/homicide bomber, Howie. That would probably the most accurate way of referring to it.

KURTZ: It would, but it won't fit in the headline. And, you know, the administration doesn't do these things by accident. I'm sure they put some thought before Ari Fleischer went out there and said, the president wants to call them homicide bombers. I think the administration is under some pressure here, from conservative who are not happy about President Bush leaning on Ariel Sharon to pull back, unsuccessfully so far, to pull back from the West Bank.

And so I think they're looking for way to also express disapproval of the kinds of terror attacks that the Palestinians have been carrying out, despite Yasser Arafat saying, now finally saying, after all of these 20, 30, who knows how many suicide/homicide bombing attacks, that he disapproves of such attacks. The administration wants to make clear that it considers this terrorism.

ZAHN: Rhetoric doesn't always work, and I'm going to put up on the screen something Martin Medhurst (ph) had to say, who is a professor of speech communication at Texas A&M, and he writes "One thing about rhetoric is, there's never any guarantee you're going to get the outcome you seek."

KURTZ: Well, but words matter. And it's interesting there is still a debate in the media about whether Palestinian bombers should be referred to as terrorist, whether the "T" word should be used. Big protest at the "Minneapolis Star Tribune," which shies away from calling such Palestinian bombers terrorists, although they had no problem describing the World Trade Center attackers as terrorist. Governor Jesse Ventura and others took out a full-page ad attacking the newspapers stance.

So words matter in these sorts of things, and how you define the term matters while the media ought to report aggressively on violence of both sides, there is a qualitative difference between a military operation, at least aimed at rooting out terrorism, and people who strap explosives to their chest and go to bar mitzvahs, and grocery stores and Passover satir's (ph) and blow themselves up. And so I think "homicide bomber" or "terrorist" is entirely appropriate.

ZAHN: All right, well, people will have to keep their ears trained on how we refer to these folks, and keep their eyes on your columns and your other colleagues's columns to see what that reflects about the nature of what's going on in the Middle East.

Howard Kurtz, thanks for your time. Appreciate it.

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