News media call Iraq conflict civil war

In his blog, Howard Kurtz of the Washington Post pulls together some of the context around the decision by some major U.S. media outlets to use the term civil war in their reporting about Iraq. It’s a controversial decision because the Bush administration continues to be adamant that the term does not fit the situation in Iraq. A Poynter Centerpiece article offers a historical perspective on how word choice has affected our understanding of Iraq and other issues.