In order to prevent racial backlash, the Muslim Council of Britain demanded that the BBC stop referring to Osama bin Laden as an "Islamic Fundamentalist" rather than an otherwise motiveless "terrorist."

The BBC actually stopped using the word "terrorist" to describe the attackers, a policy already in place at Reuters. "However appalling and disgusting it was, there will nevertheless be a constituency of your listeners who don't regard it as terrorism," says Mark Damazer, BBC's deputy director of news. "Describing it as such could downgrade your status as an impartial and independent broadcaster."

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