A terrorist act is designed to create a state of terror in a particular group of people for political purposes. The UN considers such acts unjustifiable in any circumstances, but even this body cannot agree on the precise definition of terrorism. In general, avoid the use of the term ‘terrorist’ without attribution to a specific person or organisation.
Where possible, provide a factual description of what has happened using words that specifically describe perpetrators or offences such as ‘bomber’/‘bombing’, ‘attacker’/‘attack’, ‘gunman’/‘shooting’, ‘kidnapper’/’kidnapping’ etc. The words ‘insurgent’, and ‘militant’ may be useful alternatives to the word ‘terrorist’. Never use the word ‘terrorist’ within quotation marks or preceded with ‘so-called’ as both of these practices imply a value judgement.
Be careful to avoid blanket terms that link a religion to violent acts. IRA terrorists were never described as Catholic terrorists so don’t use the term Islamic terrorists.