The BBC Plays Devil's Advocate

The BBC is now teaching us the wonders of its biased vocabulary when reporting on the news in the Middle East. From the BBC World News Editor Jon Williams, already under extreme fire in his comment section for this incoherent babble, is advocating the word 'captured' rather than 'kidnapped' in the case of Israeli Corporal Shalit, and any other soldier who is taken by terrorists :

But deployments - who goes where - are only part of what we've been wrestling with. As ever in reporting the Middle East, language - and the choice of words - is incredibly important. Was the soldier kidnapped or captured, were the Hamas politicians arrested or detained?

Our credibility is undermined by the careless use of words which carry value judgements. Our job is to remain objective. By doing so, I hope we allow our audiences on radio and television to make their own assessment of the story. So we try to stick to the facts - civilians are "kidnapped", Cpl Shalit was "captured"; since troops don't usually make "arrests", the politicians were "detained". Doubtless some will disagree. But that's, in essence, the heart of the story - two competing narratives.

I wonder where the BBC will file today's bombshell, which thus far only one tabloid has published?