Ever since 9/11 we (by "we" I'm using shorthand that includes both myself and about half of the Blogosphere) have wondered why Reuters has refused to use the T-word when referring to, you know, terrorists. Instead, Reuters refers to them as militants, insurgents, dissidents (as they frequently labeled Osama bin Laden) and other euphemisms that imply that they're more misunderstood James Dean-type loners, than bloodthirsty men with a penchant for killing innocent civilians, and the larger the number, the better.

A 2003 article explains how Reuters' Newspeak works:

Reuters, the influential news agency headquartered in London, whose wire service stories appear in print, broadcast and web media outlets, routinely uses partisan, distorted terminology in its Middle East news reports. It not only bans the word “terrorism” generally but uses language that continually seeks to explain and obscure Palestinian violence. Thus Reuters regularly characterizes Palestinian terror against Israel as “the Palestinian uprising for statehood” or “uprising for Palestinian independence” or “uprising for an independent state.”

This terminology is deceptive, adopting an Arab perspective that legitimizes the use of violence against the Jewish State.

TEL AVIV - Top terrorist Zakaria Zubeidi made a “guest appearance” in a video prepared by the staff of Reuters news agency in Israel and the Palestinian Authority as a “going away” gift for a colleague, Ynetnews has learned.

Zubeidi, who heads Fatah’s al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade in Jenin, has been named by security officials as a key figure in organizing terror attacks on Israeli civilians. Zubeidi’s al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades have claimed responsibility for more than 300 terror acts in the last five years.

A Reuters spokeswoman confirmed the video’s existence, but said the London-based news organization is “not associated with any group or faction in any conflict.”

The screening, which occurred in a Jerusalem restaurant last March, involved the showing of a video during a private party. “The video’s theme was what Israel would be like in 10 years,” said an Israeli government official who attended the party and viewed the video.

“All of a sudden, at the end, there is Zakaria Zubeidi, playing the head of Reuters. Zubeidi was sitting in Reuters’ Jenin office, saying he was Reuters’ chief,” the official said.

The party included guests from the BBC, ITN, the Independent newspaper, and French journalists. “They all thought the video was hilarious,” the official said. He added that only a few individuals did not seem amused during the screening. “They were laughing; they thought it was very funny, he said.”

In a just world, this should be the next Eason Jordan/Dan Rather moment for big media, as yet another mask falls. But will the story gain sufficient traction in the Blogosphere?

Update: Dafydd ab Hugh of Captain's Quarters reminds us that Reuters' chief rival, the Associated Press, isn't exactly a bastion of pure Olympian detached objectivity themselves when it comes to reporting on terrorists.