Thread: NAHJ Urges News Media to Stop Using Dehumanizing Terms When

http://www.phxnews.com/fullstory.php?article=41426

Washington, D.C. -- As protesters march in the streets and debate intensifies in Congress over how to fix the nation’s immigration laws, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists calls on our nation’s news media to use accurate terminology in its coverage of immigration and to stop dehumanizing undocumented immigrants.
NAHJ is concerned with the increasing use of pejorative terms to describe the estimated 11 million undocumented people living in the United States. NAHJ is particularly troubled with the growing trend of the news media to use the word “illegals” as a noun, shorthand for "illegal aliens". Using the word in this way is grammatically incorrect and crosses the line by criminalizing the person, not the action they are purported to have committed. NAHJ calls on the media to never use “illegals” in headlines.
Shortening the term in this way also stereotypes undocumented people who are in the United States as having committed a crime. Under current U.S. immigration law, being an undocumented immigrant is not a crime, it is a civil violation. Furthermore, an estimated 40 percent of all undocumented people living in the U.S. are visa overstayers, meaning they did not illegally cross the U.S. border.
In addition, the association has always denounced the use of the degrading terms “alien” and “illegal alien” to describe undocumented immigrants because it casts them as adverse, strange beings, inhuman outsiders who come to the U.S. with questionable motivations. “Aliens” is a bureaucratic term that should be avoided unless used in a quote.
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Why do some people have such a problem with TELLING THE TRUTH?

Pejoration is the process by which a word's meaning worsens or degenerates, coming to represent something less favorable than it originally did.

Amelioration is the process by which a word's meaning improves or becomes elevated, coming to represent something more favorable than it originally referred to.

Also known as extension, generalization is the use of a word in a broader realm of meaning than it originally possessed, often referring to all items in a class, rather than one specific item.

The opposite of generalization, specialization is the narrowing of a word to refer to what previously would have been but one example of what it referred to.

http://www.langmaker.com/ml0104.htm

Let's check them out in the law dictionary.

http://dictionary.law.com/


alien1) n. a person who is not a citizen of the country. 2) in the United States any person born in another country to parents who are not American and who has not become a naturalized citizen. There are resident aliens officially permitted to live in the country and illegal aliens who have sneaked into the country or stayed beyond the time allowed on a visa. 3) v. to convey title to property.


illegal
1) adj. in violation of statute, regulation or ordinance, which may be criminal or merely not in conformity. Thus, an armed robbery is illegal, and so is an access road which is narrower than the county allows, but the violation is not criminal. 2) status of a person residing in a country of which he/she is not a citizen and who has no official permission to be there.

illegal immigrant
n. an alien (non-citizen) who has entered the United States without government permission or stayed beyond the termination date of a visa.

illegals=No word found
visa overstayers=No word found
undocumented=No word found
undocumented immigrant=No word found

crime
n. a violation of a law in which there is injury to the public or a member of the public and a term in jail or prison, and/or a fine as possible penalties. There is some sentiment for excluding from the "crime" category crimes without victims, such as consensual acts, or violations in which only the perpetrator is hurt or involved such as personal use of illegal drugs.

criminal1) n. a popular term for anyone who has committed a crime, whether convicted of the offense or not. More properly it should apply only to those actually convicted of a crime. Repeat offenders are sometimes called habitual criminals. 2) adj. describing certain acts or people involved in or relating to a crime. Examples of uses include "criminal taking," "criminal conspiracy," a "criminal gang."


civil law
n. 1) a body of laws and legal concepts which come down from old Roman laws established by Emperor Justinian, and which differ from Englishcommon law, which is the framework of most state legal systems. In the United States only Louisiana (relying on the French Napoleonic Code) has a legal structure based on civil law. 2) generic term for non-criminal law.

Hispanic Journalists=No word found

I still prefer illegal alien invader.

the National Association of Hispanic Journalists calls on our nation’s news media to use accurate terminology in its coverage of immigration and to stop dehumanizing undocumented immigrants.

They don't want us calling them what they really are. "undocumented workers" is a play on words. To hell with what is politically correct. I call them as I see them and there's nothing deragatory about calling them illegal immigrants, that's what they are!
All part of more propaganda tactics for conditioning US citizens to more apathy for these people. Get your own government in line and you won't need us.

does anyone have CONTACT info for these so-called journalists & group?

Time we take LOSERV's work and send it on to these knuckleheads.
Let's get them where it counts and before they come up for breath.

Originally Posted by 2ndamendsis

does anyone have CONTACT info for these so-called journalists & group?

Time we take LOSERV's work and send it on to these knuckleheads.
Let's get them where it counts and before they come up for breath.

http://www.nahj.org/home/home.shtml

If you scroll all the way to the bottom there's an email address there.

I sent them the research posted here and added some not-so-flattering remarks.

[quote].... NAHJ calls on the media to never use “illegals” in headlines.
Shortening the term in this way also stereotypes undocumented people who are in the United States as having committed a crime. Under current U.S. immigration law, being an undocumented immigrant is not a crime, it is a civil violation. [quote]

But working illegally is a crime, stealing SS numbers and using false IDs and drivers' licenses to get work authorization is a crime. 'Illegals' are coming here to work, thus, they are in a perpetual state of criminality.

Originally Posted by NotGoingToTakeItAnymore

I sent them the research posted here and added some not-so-flattering remarks.

Oops....my email with the research done by LoservilleLabor was returned from this cruddy group. Just said "rejected"

They aren't ALL Undocumented Workers either. I know alot of them that don't even work and are over here.
They are ILLEGAL'S IN OUR COUNTRY ILLEGALLY.
No if's and or butts about it. They are Illegals.
In anybody's book.