BBC’s published Israel-Palestine style guide
The BBC has published their guidelines for writing about the conflict between Israel and Palestine. It’s a good thing that they’ve published it. This way readers, viewers and listeners can know exactly what a BBC reporter is talking about when they’re covering the issue, and why they’re conspicuously avoiding certain terms.
So now when a BBC reporter refers to the line between Israel and the West Bank, which was created according to the 1949 armistace agreement, as “the generally recognised boundary between Israel and the West Bank” instead of the literarily simpler but more rigidly defined “border,” the public knows why. It flies in the face of Strunk’s maxim “omit needless words,” but in journalism there’s always a compromise between reader palatabilty and literary correctness. In the BBC’s instance, the side of reader palatability is strengthened by the fear of political misinterpretation, especially since they’re an international news organization that reaches people of many cultures with many understandings if the English language.
They’re emphasizing neutrality of language and precise definitions over linguistic economy and casually understood words.
Read more… (via BuzzMachine)