News media adoption of an activist’s loaded label mislabeled the build site

Evidence

Most notorious were protests against the Cordoba Initiative’s plan in 2010 to build a Muslim community center in an abandoned building two and a half blocks from ground zero in New York City. The term ground zero mosque was coined by the right-wing activist Pamela Geller soon after the plan was announced. It was then picked up and used by the news media, giving the impression that the combined mosque and community center would literally be built on the site of the former World Trade Center. — Evelyn Alsultany, Arabs and Muslims in the Media, 1374

Categorization

• QUESTION: Worth chasing how the term transitioned from fringe activist coinage to mainstream media usage — who legitimized it, and what coverage rules applied.