Illegal or Undocumented?

When writing articles on immigration what terms should the media use, illegal or undocumented? This is one question that is posed by every journalist when writing a story about the topic.

According to the AP Style book the term that is preferred is Illegal Immigrant, but it says not to use just the term illegal as a noun.

There are many groups like the Diversity Committee of The Society of Professional Journalism and the National Association of Hispanic Journalists are trying to get jour

nalists to use other terms like undocumented worker or undocumented. These groups consider the term illegal a slur and politically incorrect.

What terms do other countries media use? An article by New America Media gives a few examples of what other countries use. Most Spanish speaking countries and the Philippines term Undocumented instead of illegal. In Russia both terms are used. However in Vietnam and China they use the term illegal, although in China it is not as controversial.

How should the American media react to this? Is this as controversial as some groups make it out to be? Is the term Illegal politically incorrect and should we start using the term undocumented?

Photo by: Fibbonaci Blue

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Two British Journalists Suspected of Phone Hacking

Two tabloid journalists suspected of phone hacking were released on bail last night.

Neville Thurlbeck, chief reporter for the tabloid newspaper News of the World, was questioned voluntarily at Kingston police station.

Ian Edmondson, former news editor of the same paper, was questioned separately at Wimbledon police station. Neither man has been charged.

The two men are accused of illegally intercepting voice mail messages left on cell phones. The two men allegedly were involved in a large scheme to tap into cell phones of movie stars, professional athletes and other celebrities, even including the royal family.

Another former reporter for the paper has already served jail time for accessing messages left by Prince William and Prince Harry.

The entire case has been embarrassing to both the British police and the government.

News International, publisher of the News of the World, said, "we will not tolerate wrongdoing and continue to cooperate fully with police."

Celebrities who claim that their cell phones have been hacked include Sienna Miller and former Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott. The News of the World is currently the subject of several breach-of-privacy lawsuits.

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Switching Labels

Shakespeare's Juliet once pined for a certain man named Montague, and proclaimed that the name had nothing to do with her love for the man-- that the two were separate entities and did not affect one another. Calling a rose a rotten egg would not change her opinion about its sweet smell.

Today, many sociologists (and some everyday people) recognize that what we call something does affect how we feel about it. Journalists Karen Carmichael and Rabiah Alicia Burks recently wrote this article, commenting on the nature of the relationship between the current debate about immigration and the terms "illegal immigrants," and "illegal aliens".

The article reminds us that the term illegal never has good connotations when it is applied to a person-- it can conjure up images of hardened convicts. Alien is also a word that is only used to establish a category of other.
The authors' primary issue of concern, however, is not the application of the words "illegal", and "alien". It is the use of the two terms by journalists.

With the advent of the internet and all the digital media that accompanied it, journalists have gained the ability to nurture and lead labels that are reflected in society. For this reason, it is important for journalists to report without bias.

Unfortunately, the terms that journalists have chosen in this case are not bipartisan.

I agree with Otto Santa Ana's suggestion that journalists use less biased phrases, like "unauthorized immigrant," which still accurately reflects the status of the immigrants. And of course, I don't think that only journalists have made a mistake here.

Anyone entering into the debate needs to first, recognize that not all unauthorized immigrants are Hispanic. And secondly, people must recognize that terms in a debate do affect outcomes.

Photo courtesy of FreeRepublic.com, via CreativeCommons.org.

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