Clark Hoyt, the ombudsman/public editor of the New York Times, devotes his Sunday, May 16, column to use of words that prompt sharp criticsm from some readers ("Semantic Minefields" page 10 Week In Review section).Among such controversial words, he points out, is "settlements" as a synonym for Jewish neighborhoods in East Jerusalem. Helene Cooper, a national correspondent of the Times, used the term "settlements" four times in reporting that President Obama invited Elie Wiesel to lunch at the White House to mend fences with American Jews upset at the administration's stance against construction of "Jewish settlements in East Jerusalem." Nathanan Dodell of Rockville, Md., complained that it was "tendentious and arrogant" on Cooper's part to use the word "settlements" when Prime MInister Netanyahu has rejected it in relation to East Jerusalem. Hoyt noted that Obama had used the term "settlements" himself in...(Read Full Post)