A "classic effort in propaganda" is how an immigration reform activist views a journalism society's push for the use of politically correct language in news stories concerning illegal immigration.
In its organization's magazine, Quill, the diversity committee of the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) lambasts the use of the phrase "illegal immigrant" or "illegal alien" and calls on journalists to use the more politically correct "undocumented immigrants" or "undocumented workers" when reporting on the issue.
The article, written by a longtime member of the SPJ Diversity Committee, claims the descriptor "illegal alien" originated with "fiery, anti-immigrant groups" along the U.S.-Mexico border, such as the Minutemen, and is offensive to Latinos, "especially Mexicans." [Editor's note: Most border enforcement groups speak against illegal immigration, not immigration in general.]Despite the SPJ's campaign, many mainstream journalists employ the word "illegal," and even Associated Press prefers the phrase "illegal immigrant" to "undocumented worker" in its official stylebook.
"This is a classic effort in propaganda. The people who control language often control the agenda, and if you go back and you look through history movements that have looked to control the terms of a debate, they often start with trying to control the language that's used," notes Ira Mehlman, spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR).
"There's nothing pejorative about using the term 'illegal alien.' An alien, according to the law, is the legal definition of somebody who is not a citizen of the United States. Somebody who is not a citizen of the United States and is here in violation of the law, that legal term is 'illegal alien.'"
So Mehlman does not think the SPJ's effort to "inform and sensitize" reporters will have much of an effect one way or another.
A disclaimer on the op-ed says it does not reflect the views of the Society of Professional Journalists, its members, or the committee -- and that the committee has taken no official initiative on use of the phrase "illegal immigrant."
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