The BBC has admitted re-editing some of its reports on the London bombings in order to remove the word 'terrorist' from its coverage. Tom Leonard (Telegraph) tells us:

Early reporting of the attacks on the BBC's website spoke of terrorists but the same coverage was changed to describe the attackers simply as "bombers".

The BBC gives as it reason the desire to avoid the "careless use of words which carry emotional or value judgments". They say the word 'terrorist' is not banned, but their guidelines say its use should be "avoided."

It may seem odd that the BBC chooses to avoid calling an obvious terrorist act by that name, but their concern is that if they use it in London they will have to use it elsewhere. Currently they refer to people who murder a pregnant Jewish woman and her two daughters as 'militants.' If terrorist killers in London are described as such, the BBC would have less excuse to avoid a term which conveys disapproval when it is Israelis who are murdered.

You might think that decent people would want to describe such acts in terms which conveyed the abhorrence they arouse. You would be right, and the refusal to do so is a political act.