Name: Andy Bechtel From: UNC-Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States About me: I teach editing and writing at the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at UNC-Chapel Hill. I'm interested in new ways to tell news stories and in the ethical and political ramifications of word choices (terrorist surveillance program, domestic spying or something in between?).
I have 12 years of experience in newspaper editing, most recently at The News & Observer in Raleigh, N.C.
The federal government has put together a "stylebook" for terms related to war and terrorism. "Islamo-fascism" is not recommended, but "totalitarian" is. The Associated Press tells us more in this story.
For further reading, check out how National Public Radio analyzed the language of war in this series of articles in 2006.
UPDATE: David Schanzer, director of the Triangle Center on Terrorism and Homeland Security, offers his view on this topic.