AP Bans "Islamist" From Stories About Islamists

For John, BLUF:  AP may change its Style Book, but if so they have to expand the narrative.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

Well, maybe Slate has it right about "Right Wing Bloggers" not being happy with the Associated Press.  Then there is the citation of a New York Post article for its exposure of the New York Police Department overreach in its surveillance of the Muslim Community.  Frankly, I think the NYPD does overreach, as when it stops citizens on the street to frisk them.  What ever happened to the Bill of Rights?

But, enough of that.  Slate comments here on the AP changing its style book with regard to the word Islamist.  This change is close on the heels of dispatching "illegal immigrant" to the backwaters of journalism.  Per Slate, in part the change reads:

"Where possible, be specific and use the name of militant affiliations: al-Qaida-linked, Hezbollah, Taliban, etc.  Those who view the Quran as a political model encompass a wide range of Muslims, from mainstream politicians to militants known as jihadi."

This will be good it if results in longer stories with more insight into each of the wide variety of organizations out there and their interconnectedness.  On the other hand, I am not counting on it.  I think we will be depending on the Samizdat to keep us informed as to what is really going on. The organization urging the Associated Press to change its Style Book, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), was happy with the change.

In the mean time, over at The National Review, Mr Clifford May talks about Muslim on Muslim conflict, showing why we need more detail from the Associated Press, and others on what is going on in the Muslim world.  Then there is Reporter Spencer Ackerman, writing in Danger Room of Wired about an interview with an American Jihadist in Somalia (Mr Omar Hammami, a 28 year old Alabama native), who argues it isn't US foreign policy that encourages the Jihadists to fight, but Islam itself.  Both the US and his former al-Shebab buddies are after him, with a price on his head.

Regards  —  Cliff