Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

The answer to the honourable senator's question is as follows:

The Editorial Policies are applied consistently across all areas of reporting, as are the specific guidelines and advice in relation to labelling.

In relation to terrorism, the ABC News Style Guide advises journalists that:

"Reporting terrorism and other contentious issues brings the need for fair and non-judgemental language into sharp focus. There will always be sectional groups in the community that disagree with the way an issue is reported and with the language used. Middle East reporting is a typical example.

Generally, clear, thorough r eporting is better than labels.

Our reports should rely first on facts and clear descriptions of events, rather than labels that may seem too extreme or too soft, d epending on your point of view.

When reporting a conflict, such as in the Middle East, we avoid partisanship, or the perception of it, by not adopting for ourselves the preferred labels of one side or the other. It is usually more appropriate to describe specific acts: " a car bomb has exploded in Baghdad, killing 20 people " rather than " a terrorist attack in Baghdad has left 20 people dead " . If it is necessary to refer to an organisation in such a way, it is best to attribute that label to a particular person, group or government: " the US President described the group as a terrorist organisation ".

The use of violence, including against civilians, in a political cause is not new. Terrorism – violence targeting civilians and not necessarily in a clear political cause – is not new. We won't resile from using the word " terrorism " or " terrorist " in appropriate cases. If something is clearly a terrorist act, the act and the group responsible for it can be labelled " terrorist " . That does not mean that you have to describe the group as " terrorist " in every context in which you refer to that group.

Be judicious in the use of the expression " war on terror ".

That is the policy and practice of ABC News. The ABC responded to the issue of the EU report in its response to Senator Abetz ' question on notice from the Additional Estimates hearing in October 2010 (q157).