logo
    • Magazine
    • Membership
    • Donate
  • Racial Justice
  • Economic Justice
    • Collections
  • Climate Justice
  • Health Justice
  • Leadership
  • CONTENT TYPES
  • Subscribe
  • Webinars
    • Upcoming Webinars
    • Complimentary Webinars
    • Premium On-Demand Webinars
  • Membership
  • Submissions

AP Stylebook under Fire for Rejecting Term “Illegal Immigrant”

Shaula Clark
April 5, 2013
Share
Tweet
Share
Email
Print

 

April 2, 2013; Source:Associated Press

Normally, updates to the Associated Press (AP) Stylebook only cause a stir among the folks who live and breathe the linguistic esoterica that goes into editing news articles. (For many copyeditors, 2010 is forever seared into their memories as the year the AP decided to make “website” one word, lowercase.) But this month, the Stylebook found itself making headlines across news outlets from Fox News to Salon for its decision to abandon use of the term “illegal immigrant.”

The new AP Stylebook entry reads:

Except in direct quotations, do not use the terms illegal alien, an illegal, illegals or undocumented.

Sign up for our free newsletters

Subscribe to NPQ's newsletters to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

By signing up, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use, and to receive messages from NPQ and our partners.

Do not describe people as violating immigration laws without attribution.

Specify wherever possible how someone entered the country illegally and from where. Crossed the border? Overstayed a visa? What nationality?

In their announcement, the AP maintains that “ ‘illegal’ should describe only an action, such as living in or immigrating to a country illegally.”

The change comes at a time when a bipartisan Senate group is on the brink of introducing broad immigration legislation. Some critics of the Stylebook update claim that the AP is trying to influence the debate with, in the words of the conservative Media Research Center, “politically-correct mumble.” Meanwhile, immigration-advocacy groups have found it a cause for celebration. Salon notes: “The move comes more than a year after Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, undocumented immigrant and activist Jose Antonio Vargas pushed news behemoths The New York Times and the Associated Press to drop the term.”

Any development that could be construed as introducing bias to its pages is a very serious matter for the Stylebook, the de facto style bible for U.S. news outlets – left- and right-leaning alike. According to its architects, the Stylebook change is an attempt to embrace increasingly neutral language across the board, an overall effort aimed at “ridding the Stylebook of labels.” (For example, the AP recommends that writers use the phrase “diagnosed with schizophrenia” rather than “schizophrenic.”) Considering the AP’s current mission – which could be viewed as progressive – it does not seem far-fetched to think that the AP will continue to make headlines with more controversial changes in the future. –Shaula Clark

Share
Tweet
Share
Email
Print

Become a member

Support independent journalism and knowledge creation for civil society. Become a member of Nonprofit Quarterly.

Members receive unlimited access to our archived and upcoming digital content. NPQ is the leading journal in the nonprofit sector written by social change experts. Gain access to our exclusive library of online courses led by thought leaders and educators providing contextualized information to help nonprofit practitioners make sense of changing conditions and improve infra-structure in their organizations.

Join Today
logo logo logo logo logo
See comments

Spring-2023-sidebar-subscribe
You might also like
Cancelling Student Debt Is Necessary for Racial Justice
Kitana Ananda
To Save Legal Aid, Expand Public Service Loan Forgiveness
Zoë Polk
No Justice, No Peace of Mind and Body: The Health Impacts of Housing Insecurity for Black Women
Jhumpa Bhattacharya, Maile Chand and Andrea Flynn
The Human Impact of the Global Refugee Crisis Must Be Understood—And Acted Upon
Anmol Irfan
Black Americans Need Reparations: The Fight for the CTC Highlights the Roadblocks
Jhumpa Bhattacharya and Trevor Smith
Edgar Cahn’s Second Act: Time Banking and the Return of Mutual Aid
Steve Dubb

NPQ Webinars

April 27th, 2 pm ET

Liberatory Decision-Making

How to Facilitate and Engage in Healthy Decision-making Processes

Register Now
You might also like
Cancelling Student Debt Is Necessary for Racial Justice
Kitana Ananda
To Save Legal Aid, Expand Public Service Loan Forgiveness
Zoë Polk
No Justice, No Peace of Mind and Body: The Health Impacts of...
Jhumpa Bhattacharya, Maile Chand and Andrea Flynn

Like what you see?

Subscribe to the NPQ newsletter to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

See our newsletters

By signing up, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use, and to receive messages from NPQ and our partners.

NPQ-Spring-2023-cover

Independent & in your mailbox.

Subscribe today and get a full year of NPQ for just $59.

subscribe
  • About
  • Contact
  • Advertise
  • Copyright
  • Careers

We are using cookies to give you the best experience on our website.

 

Non Profit News | Nonprofit Quarterly
Powered by  GDPR Cookie Compliance
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.

If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.