To the editor:
Public editor Clark Hoyt's article "Separating the Terror and the Terrorists" (December 14) illustrates the pretzel The Times and other news media have twisted themselves into by their reluctance to apply the appropriate terminology to Arab and Muslim terror attacks against Jews and Israelis.
Jerusalem bureau chief may believe "the word terrorist is politically loaded and overused," but the word has certainly not been overused by The Times; the avoidance its use when it is the most accurate word available has not only been political but misleading.
The Times will better fulfill its public responsibility if starts following its own public editor's common sense guideline, even in cases where terrorists murder Israeli children in their own homes in the disputed territories.
Sincerely,
Alan H. Stein