# Russian school attack-why do the reporters refuse to call it terrorism? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [September 3, 2004, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-school-attack-why-do-the-reporters-refuse-to-call-it-terrorism/263001 "2004-09-03T19:24:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2004, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-school-attack-why-do-the-reporters-refuse-to-call-it-terrorism/263001/21 "2004-09-04T00:04:24Z")
I’m upset about this too (seeing as I have 4 children of my own and can very well imagine the pain these parents are going through, having lost a child of my own in the past), but read what I say next time before flying off the handle AT me, ok? I was asking a question, not making a statement…there is a difference, see? -XT ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2004, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-school-attack-why-do-the-reporters-refuse-to-call-it-terrorism/263001/22 "2004-09-04T00:06:32Z")
I just took a quick unscientific scan of news websites…from Karachi to London and Washington, teh predominant term is ‘militants’. Which is non-comittallly descriptive. Fox News was the only mainstrean source I could find that used ‘terrorist’ - and even they tired of it after a couple of paragraphs, also reverting to ‘militant’. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2004, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-school-attack-why-do-the-reporters-refuse-to-call-it-terrorism/263001/23 "2004-09-04T00:10:56Z")
> [@Aldebaran](#): > > I can’t be calm when I hear a kid live on TV telling that they had to stand on books surrounded by explosives and were told things would explode when they would move. This all while they were already shaking of hunger, thirst and terror. There seems to have been more TV coverage of this one Russian town in the past 3 days than of the whole Chechen war. If the cameras had been there, you’d have heard the same heartbreaking tales from Chechen kids, of their experiences at the hands of ill-equipped under-prepared Russian troops. ---
**Author:** ![Aldebaran](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Aldebaran](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aldebaran)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2004, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-school-attack-why-do-the-reporters-refuse-to-call-it-terrorism/263001/24 "2004-09-04T00:13:41Z")
> [@xtisme](#): > > I’m upset about this too (seeing as I have 4 children of my own and can very well imagine the pain these parents are going through, having lost a child of my own in the past), but read what I say next time before flying off the handle AT me, ok? I was asking a question, not making a statement…there is a difference, see? > > -XT Yes yes… 🙂 And the time is… heading to daylight. Time to switch off PC and search a bed. Salaam. A ---
**Author:** ![Aldebaran](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Aldebaran](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aldebaran)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2004, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-school-attack-why-do-the-reporters-refuse-to-call-it-terrorism/263001/25 "2004-09-04T00:17:04Z")
> [@GorillaMan](#): > > There seems to have been more TV coverage of this one Russian town in the past 3 days than of the whole Chechen war. If the cameras had been there, you’d have heard the same heartbreaking tales from Chechen kids, of their experiences at the hands of ill-equipped under-prepared Russian troops. I know more then enough about the situation there. I have a niece in Russia and she does more then only attending the univ. Salaam. A ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2004, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-school-attack-why-do-the-reporters-refuse-to-call-it-terrorism/263001/26 "2004-09-04T00:22:31Z")
The last thing that a typical Russian resident will get from their media is an objective (or remotely realistic) description of the situation in Chechnya. ---
**Author:** ![Aldebaran](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Aldebaran](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aldebaran)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2004, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-school-attack-why-do-the-reporters-refuse-to-call-it-terrorism/263001/27 "2004-09-04T00:32:48Z")
> [@GorillaMan](#): > > The last thing that a typical Russian resident will get from their media is an objective (or remotely realistic) description of the situation in Chechnya. Where do I say she is Russian??? She studies Eastern European languages and history. (The Russian univ.- time is part of that education). Salaam.A ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2004, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-school-attack-why-do-the-reporters-refuse-to-call-it-terrorism/263001/28 "2004-09-04T00:35:00Z")
“Russian resident” != “Russian” ---
**Author:** ![Aldebaran](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Aldebaran](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aldebaran)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2004, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-school-attack-why-do-the-reporters-refuse-to-call-it-terrorism/263001/29 "2004-09-04T00:36:01Z")
Forgot: I do not exactly need to rely on my family to gather information. Yet she gets it out of sources I can hardly come in contact with, not being at the rigth locations and circles. ---
**Author:** ![Aldebaran](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Aldebaran](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aldebaran)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2004, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-school-attack-why-do-the-reporters-refuse-to-call-it-terrorism/263001/30 "2004-09-04T00:39:02Z")
> [@GorillaMan](#): > > “Russian resident” != “Russian” I say she is there at the univ. That does not make her a “resident” but a student coming from an other nation being a few months a year n Russia. Clear now? Sorry now I’m going to bed before I see the sun rising. Salaam. A ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2004, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-school-attack-why-do-the-reporters-refuse-to-call-it-terrorism/263001/31 "2004-09-04T00:42:53Z")
Non-capitalised ‘resident’, therefore not a legally- or nationality-bound term. just means she’s living there. Anyway, what’s the point in this? Does she have extra information on Chechnya and on the causes of terrorism within Russia that will advance the discussion? ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2004, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-school-attack-why-do-the-reporters-refuse-to-call-it-terrorism/263001/32 "2004-09-04T00:47:07Z")
> [@capacitor](#): > > 1. There were plenty of school massacres that were not committed by terrorists. > > 2. There is a civil war going on in the Russian Republic. The rebels, or terrorists, decided to expand the fight in practically all of the Russian Soviets. > The Russian forces have been known for blowing up administrative buildings in [Chechyna](http://www.hrw.org/campaigns/russia/chechnya/). This is brutal payback. So then, deliberately killing children is OK, with you? This is way beyond any battlefield confusion or fog of war excuses, these animals deliberately singled out a school full of children for targets. Anyone who would justify this makes me sick. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2004, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-school-attack-why-do-the-reporters-refuse-to-call-it-terrorism/263001/33 "2004-09-04T00:51:46Z")
> [@SteveG1](#): > > Anyone who would justify this makes me sick. Attempting to understand their behaviour does not necessarily mean any justification is being sought. Revenge is probably the best simple description of the motives for this attack. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2004, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-school-attack-why-do-the-reporters-refuse-to-call-it-terrorism/263001/34 "2004-09-04T01:07:00Z")
> [@GorillaMan](#): > > Maybe I misunderstood the ill-explained context of: “What common thread connects this event to similar ones around the world”. Please explain how I was wrong. **The common thread is a mindset that has run it’s course in history many times. It is a subject that will be lived-with and debated-over for decades to come.** > [@](#): > > How is ‘hostage taking’ _secondary_?! It’s the fundamental primary sole issue of what happened!! **The primary goal is terror, taking hostages is the means to that end. It is not mutually exclusive to include the discriptor “hostage taker” to better explain what is going on. But ultimately, this is a terrorist act In Spain, the goal was to alter the election through terror. The used bombs but ultimately they were terrorists.** ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2004, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-school-attack-why-do-the-reporters-refuse-to-call-it-terrorism/263001/35 "2004-09-04T01:14:53Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > The common thread is a mindset that has run it’s course in history many times. It is a subject that will be lived-with and debated-over for decades to come. Sorry, but you still haven’t explained exactly what this common thread is. And if it’s so obvious, why is it repeated so frequently? > [@](#): > > \*\*The primary goal is terror, taking hostages is the means to that end. It is not mutually exclusive to include the discriptor “hostage taker” to better explain what is going on. But ultimately, this is a terrorist act As I said some way up there ^ , ‘terrorist’ is now a political term. Political terms should be avoided by news reporters wherever possible. Here’s one British newspaper’s style guide’s advice: > [@](#): > > A terrorist act is directed against victims chosen either randomly or as symbols of what is being opposed (eg workers in the World Trade Centre, tourists in Bali, Spanish commuters). It is designed to create a state of terror in the minds of a particular group of people or the public as a whole for political or social ends. Although most terrorist acts are violent, you can be a terrorist without being overtly violent (eg poisoning a water supply or gassing people on the underground). > > Does having a good cause make a difference? The UN says no: “Criminal acts calculated to provoke a state of terror in the general public are in any circumstances unjustifiable, whatever the considerations of a political, philosophical, ideological, racial, ethnic, religious or other nature that may be invoked to justify them.” > > Whatever one’s political sympathies, Palestinian suicide bombers, al-Qaida, most paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland, and Eta can all reasonably be regarded as terrorists (or at least groups some of whose members perpetrate terrorist acts). > This doesn’t mean that we don’t have to be very careful about using the term: it is still a subjective judgment (one person’s terrorist may be another person’s freedom fighter). Often, alternatives such as militants, radicals, separatists, etc may be more appropriate and less controversial, but this is a difficult area: references to the “resistance”, for example, imply more sympathy to a cause than calling such fighters “insurgents”. The most important thing is that, in news reporting, we are not seen - because of the language we use - to be taking sides > **[Guardian and Observer style guide: P](https://www.theguardian.com/guardian-observer-style-guide-p)** > > From pace to pyrrhic victory > [@](#): > > In Spain, the goal was to alter the election through terror. That’s your interpretation of the events. Not the final word. ---
**Author:** ![spingears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@spingears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spingears)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2004, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-school-attack-why-do-the-reporters-refuse-to-call-it-terrorism/263001/36 "2004-09-04T01:20:42Z")
It’s the Ostrich Syndrome! Just hide your head in the sand and ‘maybe’ it will go away. Don’t count on it. Terrorism is here to stay for a long while. Do you know what “The fifth column” is? It is here! ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2004, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-school-attack-why-do-the-reporters-refuse-to-call-it-terrorism/263001/37 "2004-09-04T01:27:37Z")
I do not consider them to be patriots, rebels, freedom fighters, guerillas, “brave warriors”, or anything like that. They are animals. ---
**Author:** ![uglybeech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/82dd89/32.png) [@uglybeech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/uglybeech)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2004, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-school-attack-why-do-the-reporters-refuse-to-call-it-terrorism/263001/38 "2004-09-04T01:29:37Z")
100s of children deliberately killed is a whole new level of terrorism (is the word terrorism adequate? it’s an atrocity) and this is going to be for Russia what 9/11 was for us - it will permanently change that country. Remember 9/11 launched not one, but \*two \* wars in this country. I don’t know what the Russians will do, but a lot of blood will spill. My gripe with the media isn’t that they don’t call it terrorism - it’s that they don’t get how enormous this is. What have I watched on the news all night? Well, they’ve mentioned this, but mostly I’ve been watching lighthearted coverage of Clinton’s eating habits and only somewhat less lighthearted stormchasing of Hurricane Francis. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2004, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-school-attack-why-do-the-reporters-refuse-to-call-it-terrorism/263001/39 "2004-09-04T01:30:06Z")
> [@SteveG1](#): > > I do not consider them to be patriots, rebels, freedom fighters, guerillas, “brave warriors”, or anything like that. They are animals. Fine. That’s your opinion. Would you have more trust in the honesty and objectivity of news reporters if they refered to them as ‘animals’? ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2004, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-school-attack-why-do-the-reporters-refuse-to-call-it-terrorism/263001/40 "2004-09-04T01:37:12Z")
But we are pretty much all reading the facts from multiple sources. Everyone from Fox to the BBC is running the story out there. I still fail to see why its important to LABLE them terrorists, when its pretty obvious they ARE terrorists. Why is that important??? As to the ‘Russian 9/11’ thing, god knows what the Russians will do…or CAN do for that matter. They have been pretty much stalemated in this Chechen civil war for what? A decade? With no end in sight. What could they do that they haven’t done so far? What if AQ IS involved? Does that change the equation? If another outside terrorist group was involved? What could the world community do to help Russia resolve this civil war?? What steps would/could Russia make if this is totally an internal issue? If its a external escalation? -XT [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-school-attack-why-do-the-reporters-refuse-to-call-it-terrorism/263001.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-school-attack-why-do-the-reporters-refuse-to-call-it-terrorism/263001.md?page=3)