Thread: Society of Professional Journalists Says “No Masâ€

Society of Professional Journalists Says “No Masâ€

How about trespassing freeloaders? Any better?

They are professionals all right, but not journalists.

Last year SPJ Diversity Committee member Leo Laurence suggested that instead they should be referred to as “undocumented workersâ€

They can call them what the UN does.

Migrant "Stock"
http://esa.un.org/migration/

[quote="TexasBorn"]Last year SPJ Diversity Committee member Leo Laurence suggested that instead they should be referred to as “undocumented workersâ€

Rebecca Aguilar Resurfaces, Gets Journalists to Quit Using Ordinary Legal Terms in their Reports

pajamasmedia.com
by Bryan Preston
Posted at 3:41 pm on September 30th, 2011

Rebecca Aguilar…remember her? Former Dallas TV reporter? She ambushed an elderly Army veteran who had fended off some crooks in his own home and business, asking him “Are you a trigger happy person?â€

She used the example of her mother, who became a “proud Americanâ€

“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;

There is a blatant duality at work here with the assumption that the term Illegal Alien is synonymous with the term Criminal , in the sense that one is guilty or has been convicted of a crime in a criminal court. Illegal supporters and advocates are always the first ones to point out that simply being in the country without documentation IS NOT A CRIME. Civil offenses are not technically " crimes." While you can be found liable,in violation , or at Fault, there is no such thing as being found guilty or innocent in a civil proceeding. Even after a person has not prevailed in a civil hearing they are not a criminal. The reasoning and logic used to support their position has no basis in law and only applies to Criminal defendants and Courts.