Can Someone Tell Me Why Fox Spells Osama "Usama" and Nobody Else Does?

Have you ever noticed this? What is it with Fox using this alternate spelling? Do they just like the fact that the alternate spelling they use has USA as the first three letters? USAma bin Laden! Every other news outlet, not that Fox is a news outlet, uses the Osama spelling but not Fox. Has Fox ever addressed this alternate spelling of bin Laden's first name? I know Middle Eastern names can have many spellings but why Fox alone settled on this alternate spelling must have some sort of rationale behind it. Please enlighten me.

 

Perhaps its out of respect for our president whose name can so easily be mistaken for "Osama".

 

I guess your government is "nobody".
FBI — USAMA BIN LADEN

 

That would be fairly out of character for them.

 

FYI - U.S. Government not a news outlet.

 

OK, then because Fox fact checks their reports and the others do not. Who better to check the facts with than the FBI?

 

OK Fact checking would be way out of character for Fox. But thanks for the laugh.

 

From Slate:

Slate says "Osama." The FBI says "Usama." Should we call the whole thing off? No! As most everyone knows, the Arabic alphabet differs from the Latin alphabet. The Arabic alphabet has 28 letters rather than 26, and it uses completely different characters—some of which, including the first character of Bin Laden's first name, do not have directly corresponding sounds in English.



Changing letters or words from one alphabet into the corresponding letters or words from another alphabet is called transliteration. Rendering a language from another alphabet (or from a pictographic system such as Chinese) into the Latin alphabet is called Romanization.



A variety of systems exist to Romanize Arabic letters and words, but there is no dominant one. The International Journal of Middle East Studies offers one system, the Library of Congress a slightly different one. And not all publications consistently follow one system, either. Historical tradition for a particular place or name can win out, and so can personal preference. Or the ad hoc spelling established by the Associated Press or the New York Times can become the standard. If an Arab attains fame in the West, academics and specialists will usually yield to the spelling popularized by journalists. For example, the IJMES transliteration of the al-Qaida leader would be "Usama ibn Ladin," but the journal will probably use "Osama bin Laden" in the future. Call it the tyranny of citation.


The difficulty in Romanizing Arabic was illustrated in the 1980s by the multiple spellings for Libyan strongman Moammar/Muammar Gadaffi/Gaddafi/Gathafi/Kadafi/Kaddafi/Khadafy/Qadhafi/Qathafi/ etc. The official Library of Congress transliteration would be "Qadhdhafi," but the library opted for "Quaddafi" instead, because the "dhdh" looked so strange in English. In 1986, most publications, including the AP, adopted "Gadhafi" as the new standard. Why? The Libyan leader had sent letters to American schoolchildren and a minister. The typed name over his Arabic signature: Moammar El-Gadhafi. (Before that, he had refused to Romanize his name.) The AP stylebook says, "people are entitled to be known however they want to be known as long as their identities are clear." (That explains the different spellings for King Hussain of Jordan and Saddam Hussein of Iraq, whose last names are identical in Arabic.)



How does Osama/Usama want his name to be spelled? In a document published by the Wall Street Journal on Oct. 3, 2001, the al-Qaida leader Romanized his name as "Usama."

It appears as though FOX is the only one spelling it correctly.

 

It appears that Fox is the only one bowing to bin Laden's preferred spelling.

 

We could spell your name as "Moron" or bow to your preferred spelling of "Moen". It's up to you.

 

I appears to me that you cannot be bothered to read the facts.

 

You sure have a nasty habit of lashing out when you are cornered. If you don't know why Fox prefers this spelling and have not heard anything from them on it, you really have nothing to contribute to this thread. If only that were enough to prevent you from spewing your ugly comments.

 

Oooooh, don't get angry. I was just asking how you prefer to have your name spelled. Just like Usama wanted, we'll spell it either way you prefer.

 

Fair and balanced?? They decide....you report.

C'mon man....it's Fox. The "news" part is just intended as material for Saturday Night Live.

 

All I wanted to know was if Fox ever explained the variation of the use of bin Laden's first name. Nothing offensive here, just curious. All you two offered was a bunch of sniping BS. If you don't know the answer just shut the up and let someone who might know the answer respond. You simply are just the angriest little toads I have ever met. Get some help!

 

Here is someone that asked that same question on another site and offered some reasonable explanations. I'd have to go with #3 because it most fits with my view that Fox is always trying to manipulate the message.


Would everybody quit with the Arabic/English transliteration stuff. YES, those are alternative spellings and YES, "Usama" is how the US gov't formally spells it. BUT that's not the question. The question really is why Fox News has suddenly started spelling it that way [again]. If you look at their website Fox News has been using "Osama" for quite some time and indeed they have category labels and web addresses that spell it "Osama". But yesterday the name was suddenly and consistently "Usama" at Fox News.

So it's not a misspelling and it's not accidental. There's a reason they've made the switch, and because it is Fox News it's fun to try to read into it a bit. IMO, there are a few plausible ideas floating around:
1) Fox News wants to avoid making the Osama-->Obama typo [again]. It's an easy mistake to make and they look ridiculous when it happens. And to be fair Fox News isn't the only one slipping up -- Wolf Blitzer (CNN) slipped up earlier today.
2) They only began spelling it "Osama" after Obama became a potential presidential candidate (i.e. shortly after his 2004 DNC keynote address) in order to highlight the various Arabic/Muslim characteristics of Barack's middle and last names. Before then Fox News tended to spell it "Usama". There is actually a fair amount of supporting evidence on this one, so in my book it has been upgraded from conspiracy theory status.
3) And I have another theory. Actually I'm sure someone else has already proposed this but I haven't seen it yet. Fox News has gotten a fair amount of guff over the last few years for some well-publicized breaches in journalistic integrity. By spelling the name "Usama" they may be trying to create evidence that they are more accurate than other cable news outlets (it is probably more correct to spell it "Usama" after all) as well appearing to jibe better (using similar terminology/spelling/etc.) with the State Dept, Pentagon and the WH. Add onto that some probability that news outlets such as CNN and MSNBC will begin spelling it "Usama" given that that's the formal US gov't spelling of the name, and Fox News suddenly appears to have been the correct one all along while everyone else appears late to the table. If this last little bit turns out to be true, Fox News may have actually made a nice play with the "Usama" spelling.

 

I blame it on the Khaddaffi, Qaddafi, Gaddafi complex.

 

So is it box Quatar or cutter?

 

Well, I don't know where you get the "manipulating the message" remark (perhaps you pulled it out of some nether region), but the article says "Fox News may have actually made a nice play with the "Usama" spelling. That's what I've been telling you all along. Maybe the alternate spelling of your name is appropriate after all...

 

Its such a shame that this thread had to get nasty. Its just so innocuous, yet it seems that some take it so personally. Its only a News show. Not the 700 Club.