The Associated Press announced today that it changed is Stylebook entry on “illegal immigration.” The new entry reads:
illegal immigration Entering or residing in a country in violation of civil or criminal law. Except in direct quotes essential to the story, use illegal only to refer to an action, not a person: illegal immigration, but not illegal immigrant. Acceptable variations include living in or entering a country illegally or without legal permission.
Except in direct quotations, do not use the terms illegal alien, an illegal, illegals or undocumented.
Do not describe people as violating immigration laws without attribution.
Specify wherever possible how someone entered the country illegally and from where. Crossed the border? Overstayed a visa? What nationality?
People who were brought into the country as children should not be described as having immigrated illegally. For people granted a temporary right to remain in the U.S. under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, use temporary resident status, with details on the program lower in the story.”
The change was made in an ongoing effort to “rid the Stylebook of labels,” the association’s senior vice president and executive editor told the Poynter Institute.
The change comes after the AP previously affirmed use of “illegal immigrant.”
The Society of Professional Journalists, which arguably is the most well-recognized professional journalistic organization in the nation, adopted a policy in December urging its members to discontinue use of the word “illegal” when describing immigrants.
The organization specifically has concerns about the phrases “illegal alien” or “illegal immigrant.”
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.”
Poynter reports that The New York Times is considering a similar change to its house stylebook.
KaileyLatham says
It’s about time! sebare AlexisArianaH MaryannBatlle
sebare says
KaileyLatham AlexisArianaH MaryannBatlle Agreed! I didn’t realize they were still actively defending it recently.
MaryannBatlle says
sebare Yep: http://t.co/vrjxaGGpG7 It seemed like that was just the way it was going to be … Quick reversal now.