There is a straw man that you have concocted that says that "Tesla haters" (and I will own my bias here, despite being the target audience[1] for Tesla, I am a fan neither of the vehicles or the CEO) who are in the software industry are pressing for these recalls to be called out as recalls and not "just a software update".
Some of these are "recalls that can be fixed with software, often OTA". They're still recalls, no matter how you spin it. Because they affect safety. Maybe in a minor way, in an edge case, in some cases, but nonetheless, despite your sarcastic pouting of "I guess it's a light because pixels glow".
Just like it's a recall when Lincoln says "insert this page into your owner's handbook", or Toyota says "affix this sticker at the bottom of p 232".
> Do you think NYPost or the CNN shouldn't have added 'software' in the headline, perhaps before the word recall?
I, personally could not care less whether the word software appears or does not appear in the headline. I care that it's called a recall. I'm sorry that that hurts some Tesla fans feelings in that they think it makes things sound less safer. OTA updates for safety issues were still a safety issue. And I have zero sympathy when I listen, as I have here on HN, to same fans insisting that its a conspiracy to insist on it, while pretzeling themselves into saying that my user manual examples are still recalls "because I still had to do something about them, while their issue was fixed in their sleep".
Sorry. No. If placing a sticker in an owner's manual is a safety recall, so is your OTA update.
[1] liberal, environmentally conscious, heavy tech fascination gadget geek who likes adrenaline and acceleration.