When To Use "Died", "Killed" and "Murdered" In A News Headline

Social media was in grammar frenzy these last couple of days after CNN faced a torrent of criticism, including from a Democratic lawmaker, for its headline about an American hostage being killed by Hamas.

"Israeli-American hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin has died, family confirms via statement," CNN's original headline said. It was quick to garner criticism, accusing the network of language that was "f---ked up" and "exonerating terrorists."

Rep. Ritchie Torres, D-NY, said, "Newsflash for the media: Hostages like Hersh Goldberg Polin did not just ‘die.’ They were murdered by Hamas… Words matter because the truth matters."

So what term should CNN use? Died or dead, killed or murdered? Let us try to explain how this kind of words work and when to use them when we post articles in social media platforms to avoid confusion and misrepresentations.

If we say ten people were killed yesterday, then it means that some accident happened.

For example, a cable car crashed or a bus went off the road and 10 people were killed. It wasn’t a deliberate action. That’s the first important point. People are killed not normally by deliberate action. Normally, they’re killed because of an accident.

So a car crash or a bus crash or something happened. Some weather storm lightning or volcano erupt in or tsunami effects. In that sense, any victims of that are people who have been killed.

When we use the word "murdered", it connotes a deliberate act. It describes somebody killing somebody, but they did it viciously and deliberately.

For example, somebody went into a bank and murdered the bank manager. Somebody murdered their wife, or their husband deliberately because they were having an affair with somebody else.

The subjects were killed, but they were killed through violence, and therefore we use the word "murder". Whenever there is a deliberate act on somebody’s part to kill those people, then we use the word "murdered".

A person has been accused of murder. In order to murder somebody, you have to plan it in advance, and they call it premeditated murder.

Somebody said, "Yes, I’m going to kill that person". So they shot them or they stabbed them with a knife. It’s premeditated. That person, when they were caught has been charged with murder.

And then when we use the word "dead" or "died", you have to be really, really careful with here. The verb is to die. Dead is the adjective.

For example, somebody will ask you, "How many people died in the accident?" Your answer can either be:

✅ Ten people died in that accident.

✅ Ten people were killed.

❌ Ten people were died.

So you can see the difference there with 'kill', we have to use the auxiliary verb.

Life has ended when somebody is killed.

Their life ends when somebody dies.

Their life ends when somebody has murdered.

Unfortunately, their life ends but the verb or the adjective we use to describe it will very much depend on the way in which their life ended.

• They were killed by accident.
• They died as a result of an illness.
• They were murdered by a group of terrorists.