I've
complained in the past of news agencies that use emotionally-loaded, inaccurate adjectives to describe groups which are unpopular in the newsroom. You know them when you see them:—Captions decry "right-wing" protests, "extremist" groups, and other traditional leftist boogaboos.
I must say, though, this is the first time I can recall reading a caption that uses the same loaded terminology
against a leftist group—and I must say, it certainly
is a good start, especially considering that
Reuters has missed this adjective before:
A member of Neturei Karta, a fringe ultra-Orthodox movement within the anti-Zionist bloc, holds a placard during a protest in Jerusalem as a two-minute siren is sounded bringing Israel to a standstill to mark Holocaust Remembrance Day, May 1, 2008. Israel on Thursday marked the annual memorial day commemorating the six million Jews killed by the Nazis in the Holocaust during World War Two. The placard reads in Hebrew "Expulsion of the Zionist idea from the world is rescue from Shoah number 2." REUTERS/Mahfouz Abu Turk (JERUSALEM)
Neturei Karta, to those of you who might not be familiar, is a group of Orthodox Jews that
regularly protest the Israeli state. And boy, do they get around—They've
spoken at a "Holocaust investigation" conference in Iran, they've
picketed the United Nations, they've
savaged the Annapolis Conference (perhaps the only time that they and I have
ever been on the same page).
Yet in all of the times I've seen them on the wires, they
never number more than a dozen, paid to travel all over the world whenever someone needs a "credible" anti-Israeli face. And in all of this time, groups of
thousands of people protesting the planned division of Jerusalem are derided as being
"right-wing" (Oo! Scary!) by the press.
That's right—
Thousands who hold an opinion different than the editorial desk were fringe. A
dozen who aligned more closely with traditional Leftist talking points? Merely "ultra-Orthodox."
I'm very happy to see Reuters is finally starting to change course on the distinction! (Even if I
did just
notice it now...

)