Thursday, July 22, 2004

WHAT DO WE CALL THE WALL?



Concerns in the newsroom that the phrase "Security Barrier" has been used in some output to describe the wall dividing the West Bank and Israel (here for example.)

The project is fraught with difficulties for journalists because the language surrounding it is so loaded with meaning on both sides.

So the term of choice is "barrier." Simple, factually correct and -- hopefully -- politically neutral.

If an adjective is needed, the word to use is separation, because that's what the wall/fence/barrier does -- separate communities from one another.

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