A month after the Associated Press changed their policy on the use of the term “illegal immigrant,” other media companies are reconsider their practices. 

The Stylebook no longer sanctions the term “illegal immigrant” or the use of “illegal” to describe a person. Instead, it tells users that “illegal” should describe only an action, such as living in or immigrating to a country illegally.                                  

                           -Associated Press

While many publications are still discussing it (like The Atlanta Journal Constitution) I wanted to share a list of media outlets that recently announce or changed their use of the term.  

Here is an infographic from Visual.ly:

Who Are the H-1Bs? infographic by visually.

As data nerds, many young journalists are susceptible to fall “victims” of new documents, reports, and even maps created by non-governmental organizations.

When looking for that piece of data that will give a unique touch to a story, very often journalists come across pieces of information previously “digested” by groups with strong agendas.  A good journalist’s job is to identify until what extent he/she can trust a document, and well.. remember a Journalism 101 lesson: always be skeptic.

While reading the 16-page document summary of a survey to restaurant owners on their use of the controversial E-Verify program released this week (April 30th) is what inspired this post.

The survey  by the National Restaurant Association and the national business coalition ImmigrationWorks USA, highlights as one of the key findings that “eighty percent of the restaurant operators who use E-Verify would recommend it to a colleague.”

At first sight the number (80%) appears shocking but when you re-read you realized that the survey findings may not represent anything or at least, not the whole picture when it comes to E-Verify usage.

Here are a few things that caught my attention (and certainly were suspicious about this document):

1) The survey is based on 789 responses.
It’s only a sample of the entire food/restaurant business owners but it doesn’t include specifics on how representative this could be (size of sample vs. total owners) It includes “restaurant owners and operators, non-restaurant food service operators and supply chain professionals,” a variety of people in the food industry not only restaurant owners.

2) Lack of geographical information.
    They surveyed 789 people from……WHERE? We know location can be an important factor when it comes to all things immigration. Responses will vary between states that have E-Verify laws such as Georgia and Alabama, states that limit the program like California and those who don’t have a legislation on it such as Texas.

3) Most people surveyed do NOT use E-verify
    Only 23 percent of the restaurants in the survey use E-Verify to check the immigration status of their new hires. Even in the non-restaurant foodservice operations and the supply chain companies, the NO and DON’T KNOW percentage are higher.

4) All findings on E-Verify usage from this survey represent less than 181.47 restaurants in the U.S.
    Simple math - 23% of 789 = 181.47. From that number some are not even restaurant owners.

The lesson: READ the entire document and asks questions about the content before include anything on your story.

“Students ain’t journalists,” Whaaaat? Students and journalists, please.

Many grown-ups and even experienced journalists often forget the hard work students do. Pulitzer winners, big TV news stars and your favorite newspaper’s editor began somewhere…. perhaps at a student publication.

In recent years, student journalists have been “attacked,” not physically but intellectually. Limited paid internships and editorial censorship are the biggest concerns of the new generation of journalists.

Recently, it came into my attention that the operations of a student newspaper in Albuquerque, NM were suspended following the publication of a special sex issue.  

All copies of THE CNM Chronicle were taken away from the racks at the Central New Mexico Community College, in addition to the suspension of all the student staff.

On a clear display of censorship from the school’s administrators, students’ constitutional right of freedom of speech and of the press were violated.

 As many other college newspapers around the country, the CNM Chroniclecatered to their readership interests providing information about a popular topic among college students.  In the 12-page CNM Chronicle’s sex issue, student journalists reported on sexual orientation, sex toys, sexual education and bondage, discipline, sadism and masochism, known as BDSM.

 CNM’s officials said in their initial statement that the content was offensive and that immediate action was taken because they felt “a responsibility to make sure public funds are being used to support the College’s educational mission.”

After the events were widely covered by local and state media, the newspaper was reinstated and a new statement was released. CNM’s President  said a high school student was quoted on one of the stories and they tried to avoid any legal liabilities. They also expressed the college was “failing” to provide proper journalism training to their students.

Whether the reasons were legal or not, administrators at CNM took an outrageous decision when they tried to boycott the student’s work and by consequence violated the 14th amendment.

One of the first lessons that student journalist learn is the separation between a publication’s editorial and business functions.  In the college newspaper model, sometimes this principle may seem unclear for administrators as most of the funds come from the school and a smaller amount from advertising.

It’s unacceptable this kind of disrespectful behavior. It shows how easy an institution can tear down their students work and dignity because they are not taking their job seriously.

An educational institution’s job is provide training and opportunities for growth and do not interfere in the learning process of their students. In return, college journalists have an open door for administrators to make recommendations or use their right to reply but never try to influence editorial decisions even when they disagree with what it’s been published.

There are times when student journalists make accusations against school administrators but even then, reporters respectfully ask for both sides of the story to show readers the whole picture.

As journalism student and board member of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ) I supported The CNM Chronicle students as they raised their voices and asked from solidarity from fellow professional and student journalists in the area.

We, students, won another battle.

Related Links:

Student Press Law Center blog  http://www.splc.org/wordpress/?cat=4

CNM reinstates student paper after controversial sex issue http://www.abqjournal.com/main/2013/03/27/abqnewsseeker/updated-daily-lobo-suspends-print-publication-in-protest-of-cnm-decision.html

From the moment I was born my life has been intertwined with immigration. Twenty-two years ago, our family’s financial need propelled my parents to assist thousands of immigrants visiting Ciudad Juarez in a very unique way. 

Two daughters and a baby on the way were my parents’ fuel to always look for new opportunities to make a living.

My mom always tells me about how we used to sell burritos in a spare room at my grandma’s house. Yes, we, my parents, my older sisters and me, even when I was still inside my mom’s belly. Cooking the different dishes for the burritos was exhausting for my pregnant mom. She never thought our family would change jobs once again to finally change our lives.

One day, a man approached my uncle outside my grandma’s house asking for a room to spend the night. The man didn’t have enough money to afford a hotel and was willing to pay the little money he had to sleep under a roof. My family was touched by the man’s need and decided to rent him a spare room for the night.

My family realized they could help more people by building two bedrooms and a bathroom above the room we were selling burritos out of. They began leasing rooms for $200 pesos, which was about $20 dollars at the time. “La Gloria”, “Los Verdes,” “Romeral,” “El Pinar,” and “La Michoacana” are how my parents named the houses where they have leased rooms through the years until we built from scratch the two locations they own today.

My sisters and I always helped my parents with the family business. Everyone in the house had to know how to answer the home phone to make reservations and even answer questions about the weather and Juarez in general. I remember there was a time when spent our Saturdays cleaning the apartments. I always picked to do the beds, one of my sisters cleaned the bathrooms and someone else swept and moped. It was the family business, our family was prospering because of it and everyone was taking part of it.

My dad finished some college and wanted to become an architect. My mom finished a technical career to become social worker to start working a few years after middle school. Even though they are not working on their fields, they have performed the work of immigration attorney assistants, travel agents, drivers and sometimes counselors to help their guests.

We have listened to many stories, maybe thousands of them. Stories of people who were just teenagers when they desperately ran away to the United States following a cousin, an uncle or a friend of a family member who left before them and was already sending “dolares” (dollars) back home. Many said they were escaping their inevitable, working on the fields for a few pesos.

These are the women and men coming back to Mexico, now in their mid 30’s or 40’s, to attend their appointments at the U.S. Consulate in Juarez as part of the legalization process. They have lived 10 or more years in the U.S., and never came back to Mexico. They missed weddings and funerals; they don’t know any of their family members who currently lived in their Mexican hometowns. Some of them, left when their brothers or sisters were babies and now hear they are getting married or already have children. They ran away from the Mexican states of Michoacan, Jalisco, Oaxaca and Guerrero and now are coming back from cities such as Chicago and Atlanta where they found jobs on the carpet industry, construction and plumbing.

My parents can’t remember all the names of the people they have helped in the almost 23 years they have been working on this. They have received many hugs and listened to many stories. But what they cherish the most are the smiles of those immigrants whose U.S. residency gets approved and are free to come back to the U.S. knowing they will no longer live in the shadows.

Growing up listening to immigrants’ stories gave me the chance to learn about a whole new world when I was only a child. It was until later that I realized that those stories have helped recognize the importance of telling the stories of those who came to America looking for a better life through my reporting.