From: "FLIMEN" <alert@flimen.org> Add to Address Book
Date: 2006/08/21 Mon AM 10:53:00 EDT
Subject: Palm Bay - Media Bias on Ordinance


Floridians for Immigration Enforcement

www.FLIMEN.org

Palm Bay - Media Bias on Ordinance

Media coverage of the Palm Bay, Florida Unlawful Business Practices ordinance was extremely biased and contributed to the 3-2 defeat. The biased coverage described below no doubt inflamed opponents and dissuaded supporters.

Two major interrelated causes of our current immigration crisis are:

1) Politicians swayed by false racial accusations and too timid to uphold our laws, and

2) Biased media coverage, especially by newspapers.

When reporting on immigration, the media, especially newspapers, often distort the issue by:

Factual errors
Heavy use of euphemisms to avoid reality and law
Racially oriented content greatly outweighing immigration enforcement content
Tendency for immigration reporters to be Hispanic affairs reporters which often ignores the non-Hispanic perspective
Tendency of newspapers not to publish anti-illegal immigration letters-to-the editor in the print editions
General refusal to mention the names and points of pro-enforcement groups
Propensity to portray pro-enforcement advocates as racists and portray anti-enforcement advocates as crusaders of righteousness
General refusal not to disclose the immigration status of foreign nationals charged with crimes
You will note below that there are extensive references to the anti-ordinance groups including; American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center and the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund. Out of all of this coverage listed below there is only one reference to Floridians for Immigration Enforcement and one reference to Floridians for a Sustainable Population, despite both groups providing expert testimony at the first reading. There is no reference to Judicial Watch, despite providing expert testimony at the first reading. There is no reference to Citizens Against Illegal Aliens despite spokespersons appearing at both hearings.

Florida Today failed to cover any of the points made by FLIMEN. For whatever reason, they did post a picture of FLIMEN VP Caulkett on their web site Photo Gallery.

The Orlando Sentinel failed to report on any substantive points made by FLIMEN VP David Caulkett in the two hearings such as "Councilmembers, you can vote for either the rule of law which is a founding principle that has made this country so great, or for false racial accusations." Their only quotation of FLIMEN was in an article with an expired link not listed below entitled Palm Bay moves to ban hiring of illicit immigrants, dated August 4, 2006. The quotation was, "The Palm Bay ordinance "could become a national model," said David Caulkett, of the Floridians for Immigration Enforcement advocacy group." This quotation seemingly was published more to instigate ordinance opponents rather than to provide substantive arguments about the ordinance. Further, their creative oxymoron term "illicit immigrants" is just one more politically correct euphemism instead of "illegal aliens."

You will note that the major points of proponents for the ordinance including costs of illegal immigration, false racial accusations, and the rule of law are vastly outweighed by racially oriented content.

The preposterous pro-AMNESTY editorials of the Orlando Sentinel are not included in the list below.

Links (that may expire soon) to Palm Bay coverage follow with some comments:

http://cfn13.com/StoryHeadline.aspx?id=17686

A pro-enforcement group was actually mentioned.





http://orlando.bizjournals.com/orlando/ ... st=b_ln_hl

"two illegal immigrants" instead of "two illegal workers"

No opposing view was provided.



http://orlando.bizjournals.com/orlando/ ... st=b_ln_hl

"Two Palm Bay immigrant ordinances" instead of "two illegal worker ordinances"

The ordinance dealt with employers who hire illegal workers, not with immigrants.




http://www.courant.com/news/nationworld ... ationworld

"must find ways to expel illegal immigrants" is incorrect as the Hazelton ordinance has no provision to expel illegal aliens.



http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.d ... S/60803033

"undocumented workers" is incorrect as most illegal aliens are highly documented with fraudulent documents that our government readily accepts. The correct term is "illegal alien", with the oxymoron term "illegal immigrant" being acceptable as it at least mentions "illegal."



http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.d ... 1/60804001

"arrested" is accurate in the broad definition but misleading as the illegal aliens were more accurately "detained" and turned over to Border Patrol. There was no opposing view to Samuel Lopez to state, "That's the law and it is good that it is being enforced." Florida Today seemed to be creating a racially oriented tangential controversy.



http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.d ... S/60817031

"Samuel Lopez, president of United Third Bridge, called for voters to vote out Councilman Andy Anderson, who requested the ordinance" is correct but omitted his ranting over a bullhorn about racism and immorality which would be viewed less favorably by the public.




http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.d ... 70330/1006

Twelve paragraphs against the ordinance vs. three paragraphs for the ordinance.



http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.d ... 40342/1006

"4 charged as illegal workers" is incorrect as they were turned over to Border Patrol, who would deport them on the basis of illegal presence, not for working illegally. Further, the illegal aliens were not formally "charged" by Palm Bay with any crime. "arrest" is appropriate in the broad sense of apprehension but "detained" would have been more appropriate given the sensitivity of the issue. "without documentation" may be false as it is not known whether or not they presented fraudulent documents. Florida Today aggressively editorializes and reports on immigration, but does not have a grasp on the legal concepts of immigration.




http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.d ... 18021/1086



http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.d ... 006/news01




http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs. ... /608130382




http://www.local6.com/news/9698884/detail.html




http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/loc ... es-volusia

Seven paragraphs against the ordinance vs. three paragraphs for the ordinance.




http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/loc ... es-volusia



http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/opi ... -headlines




http://www.wesh.com/news/9696780/detail.html

This is about an illegal alien who does not pay taxes. This in-your-face biased sob story disrespects our laws and our country. It would be nice to read a citizen sob story occasionally. No opposing view was provided. The video Immigration Policy Rejected is a fine example of portraying pro-enforcement individuals in a bad light. The one racist jerk who was bleeped is not representative of those engaged in the shouting match. Not surprisingly their poll, "Do you think employers should be punished for hiring illegal immigrants?" resulted in:


Yes 186 87%
No 28 13%

http://www.wesh.com/news/9699795/detail.html



http://www.wftv.com/video/9699490/detail.html

This is a particularly egregious error that states, "Some Upset After Palm Bay Allows Hiring Undocumented Workers." Defeat of the ordinance does not mean that hiring of illegal aliens is allowed!





It has often been stated that without media support your issue will lose. Fortunately this contention does not seem to be true because of widespread skepticism with the media. Importantly many are now realizing that the national immigration debate is increasingly being driven by e-mails, blogs, web sites, and talk radio, not by the print and electronic media.

Because we must continue to educate the public, please continue to urge our fellow citizens to be skeptical of the media's immigration reporting and urge them to use alternative sources for immigration news including:

www.cis.org
www.fairus.org
www.numbersusa.com
www.alipac.us
www.illegalaliens.us/news
www.illegalaliens.us/blogs
www.illegalaliens.us/nationalsites
www.illegalaliens.us/stateorganizations
www.flimen.org/talkradio.htm

http://www.flimen.org/alerts.htm
FLIMEN
P.O. Box 4219
Hialeah, FL 33014

August 21, 2006