Is he a United States citizen?
We published a story today about a man charged in the rapes of women in Winston-Salem and Greensboro, and now in High Point. Officials say he is an illegal immigrant and that he had been deported twice already.
We don't normally ask about a suspect's immigration status but, in this case, it is relevant to the story.
Janet Brindle Reddick, our assignment editor, picks up the in-house discussion:
"It got several of us talking -– should immigration status be a part of our daily crime reporting? We have boilerplate questions that we ask in violent crimes, car crashes, etc. For example with automobile accidents, we always ask: Were they wearing seat belts? Was alcohol involved? Should a person's citizenship be added to that list as it pertains to crime?
"There are several ethical questions here. We don't want to imply that all illegal immigrants would be involved in a crime (other than the immigration violation.) We don't want to unfairly target any racial or ethnic groups, so we'd have to ask in all violent crimes. Is it even relevant?
"In this case, we decided it was a story we should run -– the man had been deported twice. But what about in other cases?"
Given the multi-nationality of the Triad population, it's a relevant question. I'd be interested in your thoughts.
And, because I have the feeling that it may come up, here is our policy on racial identification:
Do not identify people by race unless it is essential to the understanding of a story. Suspect descriptions, including race, should be used only when information is available on at least four of the following items: height, weight, build, hair, age, clothing and vehicle.
Right: Police are looking for a white man with long, brown hair. He's about 20 years old, weighs about 120 pounds, and was wearing a tweed jacket and blue jeans.
Wrong: The suspect is a black man about 20 years old. He has medium build.
In cases where information is available on fewer than four of the items, do not include a description unless there is a distinct characteristic that could be mentioned. Distinct scars and tattoos would fall into this category.
Right: The suspect is a white man about 20 with an Elvis tattoo on his right arm.
When a suspect is described, all pertinent information about the suspect, including race, should be included.
Comments (10)
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I'm glad you're using the term "illegal immigrant" and not some (egad, I'm going to say it) PC terminology. That's refreshing. As for "should we include it in standard crime stats," if it helps us understand the crime better or identify the perp, then do it. If it adds nothing to the story, then don't.
In this case (the rapist), it's very important to the story. It should open the discussion as to why this guy was back in the US after two failed exportation events. Research that one. Please.
There was some discussion recently about neighborhood in your reporting of crimes(referring to neighborhoods and making them appear high crime or not mentioning them if they weren't high crime areas). Whatever happened to that?
Posted on November 9, 2005 8:54 PM
Sue... As one of the paper's police reporters, and I can't speak for us all, I try to use geography in stories when the location of an event is not on a well-known city street. And I try to peg that description relative to downtown.
My assumption is that every day, there is one person new to Greensboro who is reading my story, and to tell them a crime occurred on, say, Roseland Street (and there's nothing wrong with that area) does little to tell him or her exactly where this took place. Informing them that it's off East Cornwallis Drive, north of downtown, is a concept the new reader can likely grasp without looking at a map.
J.R. is the best person to speak for N&R policies, though I can say that -- to my knowledge -- we don't have a clear-cut standard for using geographic references. I think it'd make a great topic to discuss in the newsroom and am open to better ways of reporting stories.
Posted on November 9, 2005 9:35 PM
Donald L. Barlett, two-time Pulitzer Prize winning reporter of Time Magazine: decribes how the press has responded to the illegal immigration challenge thus far: "I began (reporting) in 1956 and never have I seen a more badly covered subject, and there is no question it is a political correctness issue."
There is a powerful tendency sugar-coat reality as regards illegal immigration. That tendency should be resisted.
Posted on November 12, 2005 9:38 AM
Der Mr. Robinso:
Yes, I believe that any time an illegal immigrant(PC for illegal alien) that fact should definately included in the story.
The citizens of this country needs to that the failure of the government ot secure our borders is resulting in cmrinial activity that would not otherwise occur.
Sincerely
Frank D. Thurlow
Supervisory Border Patrol Agent (retired)
Posted on November 12, 2005 12:09 PM
The only way to determine if he is an illegal alien, is to ask for an I.D. You only ask for it if he can only speak Spanish and is working on an
American job. In practically every instance they will not have any I.D. card to show you. If they do,it's probably bogus. The ACLU will probably call it profiling, but if you are correct in identifying an illegal, I call it common sense.
Posted on November 12, 2005 12:13 PM
I certainly do think it is important to include immigration status in crime stories. Since 25-30% of our prison population consists of illegal aliens, failure to include this information is succumbing to "political correctness." Most readers need to be awakened to the extent of the criminal activity of illegal aliens. They are not all the "good-hearted folks wanting jobs" that Pres. Bush would have us believe. A twice-deported illegal alien murdered LA County Deputy Sheriff David March in April 2002 and then escaped to Mexico. The ACLU should read Michael Smerconish's FLYING BLIND to counteract their nonsense about racial profiling. Townsend's posting of Donald Bartlett's remark is on target--aside from Jerry Seper of the Washington Times, illegal immigration receives very poor coverage. TIME Magazine's cover story of Sept. 20, 2004 was the first time I can recall a mainstream magazine covering this hot-button issue. At least 40,000 of the 100,000 documented gang members in greater Los Angeles are illegal aliens, including the vicious MS-13, and this gang is definitely not limited to CA. It is time for the general public to realize just how much the lack of significant action on border security endangers their lives. You can assist in this by including immigration status in your crime stories.
Posted on November 12, 2005 12:52 PM
It is encouraging to see the News & Record address this issue. In my new book, Fighting Immigration Anarchy, I examine how the news media have covered illegal immigration. It is extremely important that the media report openly and honestly on our nation's illegal immigration crisis and its impact on American citizens. Many crimes in the U.S. are committed by illegal aliens. Unfortunately, most of the time the media refuse to tell us when these crimes are committed by people illegally in our country. And, yes, the correct term is "illegal alien," not "illegal immigrant." Immigrants are people who come to America legally.
Posted on November 12, 2005 1:35 PM
Look at it this way. If you OMIT the illegal alien status, your readers will very often figure it out anyway and will automatically peg you as just another PC-enslaved representative of the mainstream media (who are rapidly losing credibility among great swaths of the reading public already). People HATE being lied to. My advice: tell the darn truth. If somebody's in the country illegally, that's a relevant fact whether he just murdered somebody or he merely double-parked.
Posted on November 12, 2005 3:48 PM
NC LISTEN is an immigration reform 501c3 org in North Carolina. We believe immigration status is important to a story/news article. The public has a right to know if a person is not a legal resident and a crime has been committed. Since illegal immigrants can be of any race, this is not racial profiling.
In several recent Civitas Institute statewide polls, illegal immigration has become the fourth most important issue to North Carolinians. This is quite amazing since immigration is more of a national issue, but then more and more of the citizenry sees the state and local consequences of mass legal immigration and illegal immigration. The average citizen does support "sensible" legal immigration, as does NC LISTEN.
Regards,
Ron Woodard
Director
Posted on November 13, 2005 9:33 PM
I think any time an illegal alien commits a crime on U.S. that it is the duty of the newspaper to report this to the reader.
If someone is UNLAWFULLY in our country and commits a crime the public has a right to know this.
If illegal aliens don't like being reported as to what their status is, then they shouldn't enter our country unlawfully.
Posted on November 14, 2005 4:31 PM