Avoiding the T-word

DANIEL PIPES shows the lengths that the liberal media will go to to avoid calling a spade a spade...

The media... generally shies away from the word terrorist, preferring euphemisms. Take the assault that led to the deaths of some 400 people, many of them children, in Beslan, Russia, on Sept. 3. Journalists have been deep into their thesauruses, finding at least 20 euphemisms for terrorists:

Assailants -- America's National Public Radio.

Attackers -- the Economist.

Bombers -- The Guardian.

Captors -- the Associated Press.

Commandos -- Agence France-Presse refers to the terrorists both as "membres du commando" and "commando."

Criminals -- London's the Times.

Extremists -- United Press International.

Fighters -- The Washington Post.

Group -- the Australian.

Guerrillas -- in a New York Post editorial.

Gunmen -- Reuters.

Hostage-takers -- the Los Angeles Times.

Insurgents -- in a New York Times headline.

Kidnappers -- London's The Observer.

Militants -- the Chicago Tribune.

Perpetrators -- The New York Times.

Radicals -- the BBC.

Rebels -- in a Sydney Morning Herald headline.

Separatists -- The Daily Telegraph.

And my favorite:

Activists -- the Pakistan Times.