Contradictions and debates abound over which groups governments list as terrorist and which they don’t. Some examples: The United States’ main partner against the Islamic State in Syria is a Kurdish militia listed as terrorist by a critical NATO ally, Turkey. Hezbollah, which is listed as a terrorist group by the United States government, is also a political party represented in Lebanon’s Parliament. And some groups argue that when a government deliberately bombs civilians, that too should be called terrorism.

It strikes me that in media coverage in general, “terrorism” is often used as if it were a synonym for “Islamist extremist violence.” That grates on me: Terrorism — whatever your working definition is — is a method, not an ideology. It’s a method that could be used, and has been used in history, to further a wide spectrum of different ideologies.

For these reasons, I try to avoid using the terms terrorist and terrorism at all, unless they are inside quotation marks or refer to a government’s decision to place a group on its designated terrorist list.

During all these years of wrestling with how to cover violence, I have found it more precise and informative to simply describe exactly what the attack was — how it was done, how many people it killed, whether there is a known or suspected motive — rather than label it terrorist or not. What’s most important is what crime was committed and what its impact was.

Calling a Black Child a Man

Why do you (and other outlets) keep referring to Draylen Mason as a man? He was a 17-year-old boy or teen. Calling him a man somehow feels like an effort to desensitize people to his loss. — Anne, Spokane, Wash.

Marc Lacey, National Editor: I agree with you that, at the age of 17, Draylen Mason was a child, a teenager, one who had a promising future as a musician, as we noted here. There were two instances in which we referred to him as a man. Both were later updated. I appreciate your raising this issue.

Treatment of White Suspects

He is not the victim! When a POC is the victim they are treated far worse than this “godly boy” whom we are lucky didn’t kill more people with his bombs. Imagine if he was Muslim. — Tyrone Dockery When it’s a white kid, we are quick to throw out the “misguided” or “severely disturbed” or whatever linkage to their mental state — TBunkNasty Why are you bending over backwards to try and concoct an image of this evil, hateful killer? Asking neighbors, friends, family for their biased, inaccurate, or revisionist opinions of the killer and his motives does nothing except insult the good people he KILLED. — Bruce, Seattle

Marc Lacey, National Editor: I agree with readers on this point — that the only victims in this story are the ones Mark Conditt killed and injured. He is not a victim.

After such events, we journalists write profiles of the perpetrators of such attacks as we try to understand their backgrounds and what may have motivated them. Here’s one such piece we did on Omar Mateen and another on Dylann Roof.