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This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
"Illegals" no; "undocumented" yes
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LAist is an avid consumer of news media, the kind that comes in papers, on the internets, TV and, this LAist-er especially, ye olde NPR. We like that NPR ain't no Fox News: no diatribes, no right-wing harangues. So we were taken aback by the rampant use of "illegals" in NPR's coverage of yesterday's immigration rallies and marches.
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.
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People aren't illegal, acts are. Imagine if everyone who did something illegal became an illegal — that guy who smoked marijuana, anyone who had a little too much to drink and got behind the wheel, the guys who got rich while cheating thousands of stockholders — we're a nation of people who break the law. Some of us have residency papers, others don't. That's where "undocumented" comes in.
"Undocumented" is, in fact, the standard at the LA Times and New York Times; the papers use the word "undocumented" to describe people who are residents without legal standing. And LAist does, too.
As Editor-in-Chief of our newsroom, I’m extremely proud of the work our top-notch journalists are doing here at LAist. We’re doing more hard-hitting watchdog journalism than ever before — powerful reporting on the economy, elections, climate and the homelessness crisis that is making a difference in your lives. At the same time, it’s never been more difficult to maintain a paywall-free, independent news source that informs, inspires, and engages everyone.
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