Illegal Immigrant
On The Media
"Illegal," "Undocumented," and The New York Times
Tuesday, October 02, 2012
On last week's show, Bob spoke to Jose Antonio Vargas about the way that news outlets talk about immigrants and immigration. Since an article in the New York Times last year, Vargas has been working to spark discussion around immigration issues, and at the Online News Association conference last month, he announced his plan to track, and hopefully influence news organizations to move away from the terms "Illegal alien" or "illegal immigrant" to terms like "undocumented" or "unauthorized" immigrant.
Chief among his focus were two of the world's largest news outlets - the Associated Press and the New York Times. Today, the Times' public editor Margaret Sullivan commented (for the third time) on Vargas' request:
On The Media
"Illegal" vs. "Undocumented"
Friday, September 28, 2012
Since writing an article called "My Life as an Undocumented Immigrant" in the New York Times Magazine last year, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jose Antonio Vargas has been trying to foster conversation about immigration issues. In a speech last week at the Online News Association conference, he announced his plan to track and hopefully influence news organizations away from using the term "illegal" to describe immigrants. Bob asks Vargas why he feels this change in nomenclature is important.
Latin Playboys - Crayon Sun

