The AP's retreat is indicative of a crumbling of parts of the so-called "mainstream media" in its reporting about the Middle East, the Arab world and the Muslim world. By retreating from describing the Islamists as Islamists, the AP isolates itself from the rest of international media, which uses the term "Islamist" naturally and consistently with its Arabic translation and meaning.
More importantly, the AP is isolating itself from Arab media. For while media in the region uses the term Islamy or Islami (Islamist) to identify all movements that aim at the establishment of an "Islamist" state, regardless of these various movements' strategic agendas, from the more political Muslim Brotherhood to the radical Salafists and the extremist al-Qaeda, The AP will be entering the foggy zone established and encouraged by advisers of the U.S. administration, where definitions are twisted by "Islamist lobbies" backed by petrodollars' power. [New English Review] Read more
