Leo Laurence

Society of Professional Journalists Wants to Avoid Term 'Illegal Immigrants'
By Paul Wilson | January 10, 2012 | 8:27 PM EST

A group that calls itself "The nation's most broad-based journalism organization, dedicated to encouraging the free practice of journalism and stimulating high standards of ethical behavior" sounds important, and would probably be a stickler for accuracy among its members and in its own affairs, wouldn't it?

Not the Society of Professional Journalists. SPJ recently institutionalized political correctness, asserting that undocumented workers should not be tagged with the so-called offensive term "illegal."

FNC Follows Up on Journalists’ Group Push to Change ‘Illegal’ to ‘Undocumented’
By Matt Philbin | January 3, 2011 | 4:28 PM EST

On Dec. 14, 2010, the Culture and Media Institute reported that the Society for Professional Journalists (SPJ)’s Diversity Committee announced a year-long campaign to “educate journalists about the hurtfulness of phrases like ‘illegal immigrant,’ which is the term currently preferred by the influential AP Stylebook.”

After the Daily Caller picked up the story, the Fox News Channel followed suit. On Jan. 3, “Fox & Friends’” host Steve Doocy interviewed Leo Laurence, a member of SPJ’s Diversity Committee, who couched the society’s advocacy as a constitutional issue.

“The problem,” Laurence said, “is that under our Constitution, everyone, including non-citizens, are presumed to be innocent of any crime until proven guilty in the court of law. Therefore, only a judge can say when someone is illegal. So we're urging journalists to use the phrase, undocumented immigrant, not illegal immigrant.”

(Video below the fold)