Well, that didn't take long. A bus bombing within a mile of its London headquarters actually jolted the BBC into using the word "terrorism" to describe the deliberate targeting of innocent civilians — well, as long as they weren't Israelis. But only briefly.

The Jerusalem Post reports that the Beeb is back to its old leftist tricks again:

BBC executives had previously insisted that for the sake of what they call "evenhandedness" terrorists should not be called terrorists. Their Guidelines state: "The word 'terrorist' itself can be a barrier to understanding... We should try to avoid the term, while we report the facts as we know them."

BUT THE hope of many of the British taxpayers forced to fund the BBC that it had finally come to its senses and would henceforth call terror by its proper name turned out to be short—lived. By Friday, the BBC's World Service was slowly reverting to its old habits, both on air and on line. (Its domestic news broadcasts have for the time being continued using the word "terrorist.")

Presumably hoping that no one would notice, the BBC subtly and retroactively altered its initial texts about the bombs on both its British and international Web sites. Unfortunately for the BBC, however, previous versions of its webpages remained easily accessible to all on Google, and enterprising British bloggers, long—fed up with the BBC's bias, recorded the changes.

Ed Lasky   7 12 05