Bahrain Slams Foreign Media for Description of Protesters Sentenced to Death — Official Statement Objects to Calling Them ‘Protesters’
\nby Jason Ditz, May 01, 2011<\/p>\n
The Bahraini government\u2019s Information Affairs Authority (IAA) issued a statement this weekend angrily condemning the global media for its coverage of the trial of several Shi\u2019ite protesters sentenced to death.<\/p>\n
According to Bahrain\u2019s state news agency, the IAA objected to the foreign media referring to the protesters as \u201cprotesters.\u201d The state media referred to them only as \u201ccriminals\u201d or \u201cterrorists,\u201d and those seem to have been the government\u2019s preferred terms.<\/p>\n
The IAA insisted it was unprofessional for media outlets to refer to them as protesters, saying that it gave the impression that they \u201chave the right to protest.\u201d The seven charged were in fact protesting at the time and were accused of killing two police during the crackdown against Shi\u2019ite protests. …more<\/a><\/p>\n