October 14, 2011, - 12:30 pm
Society of Pro Journalists Votes Not to Use “Illegal Alien,” “Illegal Immigrant”
Hey, it’s just like the Obama administration, Rick Perry, and Chris Christie. Apparently, there really is no such thing as an “illegal alien” or an “illegal immigrant.” Or, rather, that’s the fantasyland in which they and the Society of Professional Journalists would have you believe. Question: is denying reality a job qualification to call yourself a “professional journalist?” Apparently so. Don’t forget that the Society of Professional Journalists, for years, gave out a Helen Thomas Award, despite Thomas’ career history of openly endorsing anti-Semitism and Jew-hatred. Interesting that this absurd decision was endorsed by prominent (but completely incompetent) Republican political consultant John Truscott (who is Lebanese and takes money from Hezbollah clients).
The Society of Professional Journalists, hearing an emotional plea from Rebecca Aguilar, a member of SPJ and of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, voted Tuesday [DS: end of September] to recommend that newsrooms discontinue using the terms “illegal alien” and “illegal immigrant.” The resolution from the 7,800-member organization says only courts can decide when a person has committed an illegal act.
Aguilar argued that using those words insulted Latinos and all those who are or had once been in the United States illegally. She used the example of her mother, who became a “proud American” in 1980. Her mother felt insulted “every time she heard that word,” Aguilar said of the phrase “illegal alien.”
“She turned the tide,” the new president-elect, Sonny Albarado, projects editor of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette in Little Rock, said of Aguilar. “She delivered the statement with such passion. After that, there was just a great overwhelming outpouring of support.” Aguilar, a freelance broadcaster in Dallas, is a board member of NAHJ and of the Fort Worth SPJ chapter, was an SPJ “diversity fellow,” and is a new member of SPJ’s Diversity Committee.
The resolution, introduced by the SPJ Diversity Committee at the Excellence in Journalism convention in New Orleans, was originally rejected by the Resolutions Committee. Its members recommended that objections be brought to the stylebook committee of the Associated Press, Albarado said. . . .
Jeremy Steele, a member of the Diversity Committee who is director of media relations for the John Truscott Group in Lansing, Mich., tweaked the language into something more acceptable, said Albarado, who would follow Fred Brown and Robert Leger as an SPJ president of Latino heritage, Alborado said Thursday.
You should note that the John Truscott Group, is a Republican political consulting group that many so-called conservative Republicans use to run (and lose) their campaigns. Truscott, who is half Lebanese, took on Hezbollah agent Ali Jawad as one of his clients, after I got the John McCain campaign to dump Jawad, a convicted insurance defrauder and open supporter and financier of the Islamic terrorist group that murdered hundreds of Americans. In attacking me, Truscott said, on Detroit’s WJR radio station, that “we Republicans don’t discriminate against Hezbollah.” Truscott ran former Republican Congressman Pete Hoekstra’s losing campaign for Governor of Michigan and is reportedly running his campaign for the Republican nomination to the U.S. Senate.
The motion passed on a voice vote.
“I hope that it makes a statement about sensitivity to language. It has an effect on the people it refers to,” Albarado said. “I hope it shows people that journalists are concerned about being accurate when they refer to people, plus I hope it helps shape the discussion.”
The resolution reads:
“WHEREAS, the Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics urges all journalists to be ‘honest, fair and courageous in gathering, reporting and interpreting information’ and;
“WHEREAS, mainstream news reports are increasingly using the politically charged phrase ‘illegal immigrant’ and the more offensive and bureaucratic ‘illegal alien’ to describe undocumented immigrants, particularly Latinos and;
“WHEREAS, a fundamental principle embedded in our U.S. Constitution is that everyone (including non-citizens) is considered innocent of any crime until proven guilty in a court of law and;
“WHEREAS, this constitutional doctrine, often described as ‘innocent-until-proven-guilty,’ applies not just to U.S. Citizens but to everyone in the United States and;
“WHEREAS, only the court system, not reporters and editors, can decide when a person has committed an illegal act and;
“WHEREAS, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists is also concerned with the increasing use of pejorative and potentially inaccurate terms to describe the estimated 11 million undocumented people living in the United States;
“THEREFORE, be it resolved that the Society of Professional Journalists convention of delegates: urges journalists and style guide editors to stop the use of illegal alien and encourage continuous discussion and re-evaluation of the use of illegal immigrant in news stories.”
Yup, we’re living in a world where you simply can’t tell the truth about people who are here illegally and breaking the law by being here. Instead, up is down, left is right, and reality is nowhere to be seen if you get yours through the clouded eyes of the mainstream media.
Tags: Hezbollah, Illegal Aliens, Illegal Immigrants, Immigration, Jeremy Steele, John Truscott, John Truscott Group, Latinos, Pete Hoekstra, Rebecca Aguilar, Soceity of Professional Journalists, Sonny Albarado, SPJ
George Orwell’s Newspeak was all about the destruction of words. If you don’t have a word for it, you can’t have a thought about it. Well, as the Daddy of two beautiful LEGAL Hispanics adopted from Guatemala, and a guy who paid OUT OF STATE Tuition that went up 1000 PERCENT when I attended UTMB School of Medicine at Galveston, let me say “Screw You” back to Illegal Aliens and instate tuition for illegal aliens.
SCREW THEM!
Occam's Tool on October 14, 2011 at 12:53 pm