The BBC is reviewing its use of the term “Islamic State” after a cross-party group of members of Parliament, backed by British Prime Minister David Cameron, accused the broadcaster of legitimizing the terrorist group by continuing to use the name in its journalism.
A BBC spokesman said the corporation would consider the letter, signed by 120 MPs and sent to BBC director-general Tony Hall last week, but that it had little choice other than to call the group “by the name it uses itself.”
“No one listening to our reporting could be in any doubt what kind of organization this is,” a BBC statement said. “We call the group by the name it uses itself and regularly review our approach. We also use additional descriptions to help make it clear we are referring to the group as they refer to themselves, such as ‘so-called Islamic State.’”
Earlier on Monday, Cameron clashed with BBC Radio 4’s John Humphrys over the issue.
“I wish the BBC would stop calling it Islamic State because it is not an Islamic state,” the prime minister said. “What it is, is an appalling, barbarous regime… It is a perversion of the religion of Islam and many Muslims listening to this program will recoil every time they hear the words Islamic State.”
The letter, initiated by Rehman Chishti, the Conservative MP for Gillingham and Rainham, was signed by Tory London Mayor Boris Johnson and the Labour Party chair of the home affairs select committee, Keith Vaz.
It urges the BBC and other broadcasters to adopt the name “DAESH” for the group.
The term is based on an Arabic acronym for al-Dawla al-Islamiya fil Iraq wa’al Sham, which translates as “Islamic State of Iraq and Sham (Syria),” but is close to Dahes, or “one who sows discord.”
Later on Monday, Cameron appeared to muddy the waters on his position during a British House of Commons debate about the UK’s response to a shooting in Tunisia in which 30 Britons might have died.
“I personally think that using the term ISIL or ‘so-called’ would be better than what [the BBC] currently do,” Cameron said. “I do not think we will move them all the way to DAESH, so I think saying ISIL is probably better than Islamic State because it is neither, in my view, Islamic or a state.”
ISIL is short for Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant — a historical geographical term for the land stretching from southern Turkey through Syria to Egypt. The Web site for the British security agency MI5 uses Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
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