Why does CNN and FOX keep mispelling Osama's name?

I was watching CNN the other day and had noticed that they were spelling "Osama", "Usama" at first i kind of blew this off as somone screwing up and simply mistyping it. Today i was watching Fox news and they had done the exact same thing.

Now i dont think that its some deep dark conspiracy but its pretty screwed up none the less. the only thing that i could think up was that maybe they didnt want to mix up Osama and Obama but to change to spelling to Usama?

Kind of wierd.. thought i would bring it to the attention of the good people here on ATS for some feedback and or answers.

It's actually not a misspelling. Fox has been doing this since before Obama was even in the picture. "Usama" is one of the transliterations of his Arabic name; one of because there isn't a set rule for Arabic transliteration into English. [For fun. here is the approximation of the Arabic that is on Wiki: Usāmah bin Muḥammad bin ‘Awaḍ bin Lādin.]

The FBI spells it Usama as well.

[edit on 2/1/2010 by octotom]

In the Arabic alphabet, there are no vowels just consonants.
So as stated already there can be numerous spellings in our language of Middle Eastern names. And to state it simply the names of people from the middle east are known for being common amongst each other so it's easy to get individuals mixed up.

It's also a good way to steer away Osama from Obama.

Further, standard Arabic only has three vowels: u (as in English 'boot'), i (as in English 'feet'), and a (as in English 'father'). So all the 'e's and 'o's you see in transcriptions are just silly.

Yeah it is kind of the same way the BBC spell Taliban, they spell it 'Taleban'. Wether it is some editor with a point to prove about correct spelling or another reason it annoys me greatly.

Really this one got past you?

Osama", "Usama
US-AMA
US = UNITED STATES

A character we created!

Just throwing stuff at the wall here, but maybe its an attempt to CYA. Maybe they know that Osama is dead or not releasing any more tapes so they have a stand in look alike do it under the name Usama. Plausible deniability achieved. I know its probably not the case, but hey, everything is a possibility. As a side note, everyone should read the book Plausible Denial by Mark Lane.

reply to post by octotom


That actually makes sence.

And here i thought it was just the media trying to further seperate Obamas name from "terrorists".

Correct pronunciation of the scumbags name of course. I would just call him a scumbag but, it's not pc.

Thers no coverup here guys. The 2nd or 3rd guy who posted got it right. Usama. Is the correct way to spell is name in English. That's what they taught us at Language school in the army anyways.

The avatars in this thread sometimes comes in pairs. 2 suits and 2 skeletons. Its a glitch in the computer we live in I tell you, computers cant make true random