Check out these recent posts:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/30/newsrooms-discontinue-illegal-immigrant-illegal-alien_n_988728.html

http://mije.org/richardprince/unity-backer-has-second-thoughts#SPJ

If you see more, let us know.

This has been a great week for the Society of Professional Journalists’ Diversity Committee.  We had a successful Diversity Leadership Program including six stellar women.  We also were able to pass two resolutions — one including diversity hiring and one urging journalists to cease the use of  “illegal alien” in news coverage.  The resolution urging the end of the “I-Word” was the result of a courageous effort led by Diversity Committee member Leo Laurence over a two-year span. It also showed the willingness of the SPJ membership to “walk the walk” of the organization’s Code of Ethics. We are appreciative of all who helped in this battle and who voted in favor of the resolution.

Also this week, I was asked by our new president, John Ensslin, to chair the Diversity Committee for the coming year.  I succeed George Daniels, who will devote his energy to the SPJ and SDX boards.  I am honored to take on this responsibility and I look better to a year of  educating others about the need for diversity from the classroom to the newsroom.

Below is a description of last week’s events by Diversity Committee Member Jeremy Steele. He mentions some of the key players and includes the resolution at the end.

Thanks to all who made this happen.

Curtis Lawrence

SPJ Diversity Committee Chair

The following is a memo from Jeremy Steele to the SPJ Diversity Committee:

Good morning, everyone,

Yesterday’s closing business session was certainly interesting and packed with thoughtful debate on a lot of big issues. I wanted to give members of the Diversity Committee an update.

The diversity hiring resolution that George put forward to our committee – and we then endorsed – was approved in a block of six resolutions that were not controversial – ie, no one felt the need to debate them individually. Other resolutions in the block included thanking staff for their work to arrange the convention, thanking President Hagit Limor for her service, etc. Then we began the work on four other resolutions, including the resolution put forward by the diversity committee on the use of “illegal alien” and “illegal immigrant,” support of a federal shield law (passed), two resolutions attempting to bring back the Helen Thomas Lifetime Achievement Award (both failed) and an effort by the Conn. Pro Chapter to overturn a $3 dues increase approved by the SPJ board on Sunday (failed)

Earlier in the day, I received word that the resolutions committee had voted 3-0 to NOT endorse our resolution. I had a conversation with Mac McKerral, the resolutions committee chair and a former SPJ president. He indicated that the committee was not opposed to the spirit of the resolution, but had some issues with its language. So I workshopped that language a bit during the diversity fellows lunch a few hours before the closing business session and went over some revisions with Curtis, Becky, Rebecca Aguilar (a diversity fellow, NAHJ board member, Fort Worth chapter member and Sonny Albarado, SPJ’s president-elect. The most significant changes involved adding a new first whereas clause citing the SPJ Code of Ethics and revising the therefore be it resolved clause (which had been edited by the resolutions committee). I also added a few words for context and impact.

As I was also a delegate, I was able to put forward our substitute language (which I will include below) and speak in support of the resolution.

For those of you who haven’t experienced the convention of delegates – it’s an unpredictable place and a great example of how policymaking is, indeed, akin to making sausage (the end result may be delightful, but the process is messy).

After addressing a couple of questions from the delegates, I yielded the floor and others took their turns to speak. I have to admit their stance made my heart skip a beat or two. While no one spoke against the spirit of the resolution to be fair and accurate when reporting on various groups of people, there were some statements from a few sticklers who still didn’t like the language as presented and encouraged others to vote no.

Then, Rebecca Aguilar spoke. If you haven’t met Rebecca yet – the best way I can describe her is with a single word: “Wow.” She’s spunky and smart and passionate. Rebecca is also the daughter of undocumented workers and a board member of NAHJ, in addition to her involvement on SPJ’s digital media committee, Fort Worth SPJ chapter and as a diversity fellow this year.

Her brief comments on her mothers support of journalism – and offense particularly at the phrase illegal alien - led to other comments in support from young professionals and established members. Men and women. White and black. It was quite inspiring to watch.

Long story short, the resolution passed on voice vote, with a solid majority in favor.

Congratulations to Leo for his year of hard work on this effort, and THANK YOU to Rebecca for sharing her story and making a positive impact on the delegates.

jws
Jeremy W. Steele
jeremywsteele@gmail.com

My changes are in bold. A friendly amendment from another delegate is in bold italics. Other wording changes from what the diversity committee initially put forward reflect edits by the resolutions committee:

WHEREAS, the Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics urges all journalists to be “honest, fair and courageous in gathering, reporting and interpreting information” and;

WHEREAS, mainstream news reports are increasingly using the politically charged phrase “illegal immigrant” and the more offensive and bureaucratic “illegal alien” to describe undocumented immigrants, particularly Latinos and;

WHEREAS, a fundamental principle embedded in our U.S. Constitution is that everyone (including non-citizens) is considered innocent of any crime until proven guilty in a court of law and;

WHEREAS, this constitutional doctrine, often described as “innocent-until-proven-guilty,” applies not just to U.S. Citizens but to everyone in the United States and;

WHEREAS, only the court system, not reporters and editors, can decide when a person has committed an illegal act and;

WHEREAS, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists is also concerned with the increasing use of  pejorative and potentially inaccurate terms to describe the estimated 11 million undocumented people living in the United States;

THEREFORE, be it resolved that the Society of Professional Journalists convention of delegates: urges journalists and style guide editors to stop the use of illegal alien and encourage continuous discussion and re-evaluation of the use of illegal immigrant in news stories.

CLARIFICATION: The following article is an opinion piece and does not reflect the views of SPJ, its membership or its Diversity Committee. The committee itself has taken no official initiative on this topic.

Mainstream journalists use the phrase “illegal immigrant” regularly when referring to Latinos who lack documents to be in this country. Yet, use of the phrase is inconsistent with a fundamental doctrine in our Constitution.

We celebrate the blessings of being American on the Fourth of July, and those blessings are guaranteed because of our Constitution.

One of the most basic of our constitutional rights is that everyone (including non-citizens) is innocent of any crime until proven guilty in a court of law. The only person who can properly say that someone is doing something illegally (e.g., is an “illegal alien”), is a judge; not a journalist or politician or anti-immigrant advocate.

In contrast to our common-law system of jurisprudence; in many countries with laws following the Napoleonic Civil Code, you are guilty until you prove your innocence (usually a light burden, however; compared with the heavy burden facing prosecutors in our criminal courts).

Largely because of this constitutional doctrine stating that everyone is innocent of any crime until proven innocent in a court of law, we journalists add the critical adjective “suspected” when writing a story about someone who has been arrested or is a police target.

Except when referring to brown-skinned Latinos, however. Journalists today commonly refer to undocumented persons as “illegal immigrants,” or more offensively: “illegal aliens” (as if they were from another planet?).

Use of the phrases illegal alien and illegal immigrant seems to go back to rise of angry, anti-immigrant sentiment that has long been festering in America. Here in San Diego, those two, denigrative phrases were commonly used years ago by flag-waving, gun-toting, anti-immigrant vigilantes called the “Minutemen;” and which once operated openly along our long border with México . . . some still do.

A few people feel threatened by the increase in Latinos in
America, where brown-skinned people now outnumber whites in some areas. Yet, our immigrant diversity has made our country stronger.

My journalism career began in ’47 with the Middletown Times Herald, nestled in the foothills of the Catskills and rich in Revolutionary War history. Back then, most of my small, hometown village of Monroe, New York was white; with a few “negroes” living along the Erie Railroad tracks. I met my first Latinos and Asians when I joined the Navy and became a combat photographer.

Recently while returning to visit my hometown, I was pleasantly surprised to find so many Latinos living in Monroe. Indeed, while walking along Lake Street, the main drag in the small village, two Latino youths were so pleasantly surprised when I said “buenas dias,” as we passed on the sidewalk.

However, some Mexican journalists I know go out of their way to become more Americanized, and will themselves use the degnirative terms illegal alien or illegal immigrant in their stories. That doesn’t make it right.

Let’s be good Americans and work in our craft of journalism in a manner consistent with our fundamental, constitutional principles. This is a matter of law; and not just Leo’s, personal opinion.

My long professional life has been a mixture of journalism and law (including four years of unprecedented, post-doctoral study in appellate law at the California Court of Appeal). Ethically, I believe journalists can practice their profession in a manner that’s consistent with our basic, constitutional laws.

For those newswriters who insist on using the phrase “illegal immigrant” (or perhaps because it is a required, company policy); add the modifying adjective “suspected,” as “pro” journalists do when writing about arrestees or police suspects.

Clearly, only the phrase undocumented immigrant is consistent with our fundamental, constitutional law. Hopefully our SPJ diversity committee will consider this issue during the upcoming national convention in Las Vegas.

The following resolution is being sent to SPJ diversity committee members for consideration:

A fundamental legal principle in our American constitutional law is that everyone (including non-citizens) is considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Consistent with that basic doctrine of law, journalists are urged to use the phrase “undocumented immigrant,” and avoid the denigrative phrases “illegal immigrant” or “illegal alien.”

TUSCALOOSA, Ala–   Less than a month after a late civil rights photojournalist’s double life as an FBI informant was revealed, the University of Alabama SPJ chapter is re-directing the attention to the positive images that changed the course of history.

Flip Schulke in a photo taken by Larry Spruill

This Thursday, the work of civil rights photojournalism Flip Schulke will take centerstage at a screening of the award-winning documentary, Stills of the Movement. Schulke, who died in 2008, did more than photograph Martin Luther King, Jr. and Medgar Evers.

He is credited with pioneering underwater photography, often accompany Jacques Costeau on expeditions.

Thursday’s 7:30 p.m. screening  at the University’s Ferguson Student Center will feature Morehouse College history professor and Accomplished Photographer Larry Spruill, who knew Schulke and Rider University Communications Professor Shawn Kildea, who was one of the producers of the documentary “Stills of the Movement.”

This week’s event falls less than two weeks after a (Memphis) Commercial Appeal investigation revealed Photographer Ernest Withers doubled as FBI informant to spy on the civil rights movement.

On January 4, Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele said “honest Injun” in a Fox News Interview with Sean Hannity, and Native Americans are still waiting for an apology.  

A transcript from Fox News shows Steele said, “Our platform is one of the best political documents that’s been written in the last 25 years. Honest Injun on that.” Steele later said it was not an intentional racial slur. Native American Journalist Association (NAJA) President Ronnie Washines called for an apology immediately after the event and has since noted in Indian Country Today what he terms Steele’s qualifying his own racism by using the term.  

Native Americans called the remark “racist,” especially since Steele raised his hand as in an oath when he said the words. To Natives, this is one of the worst racial slurs someone can use when referring to their cultural/racial identity. In a January 8 NAJA press release Washines said:  

“Those of us in journalism have tirelessly worked to ensure that political leaders, newsrooms and the public be respectful to all cultures when speaking [publicly]. Michael Steele’s scurrilous tongue does no service to his group and only undermines the positive work of those who sincerely seek to respect one another in all of our working relationships. I urge Michael Steele to carefully word a sincere apology to the Native American community, which could help stop such uneducated archaic racist remarks from being made in the future. We here at NAJA are available to assist him and his organization with obtaining an accurate understanding of Native America”  

In the meantime, NAJA Executive Director Jeff Harjo said the organization and Native Americans are still waiting for an apology.  

– Rebecca J. Tallent, Ed.D., member of diversity committee

Many thanks to Crystal Johns of CBS News and Howard Goldberg of the Associated Press and New York SPJ chapter for organizing an Interactive Journalism 101 training on Mar. 13 for members of SPJ, NABJ, NAHJ, AAJA, NLGJA and SAJA groups.

I met Crystal at a Unity: Journalists of Color meeting in Boston last fall and we talked about the need to offer new media trainings in a competitive environment — especially for members of Unity. The day was quite the success and postiive feedback has been flowing in. The day tackled such  topics as:  How to equip yourself for electronic newsgathering, writing & filing for the web; Basics of video editing (using Final Cut Pro); Shooting & packaging multimedia, putting the words and images together.

Also thank you to speakers: Rick Borutta, Producer, CBS Interactive, Bonny Ghosh, video journalist, Associated Press TV News, Michael Wuebben, Senior Producer, CBS Interactive.

Howard’s entire slide show can be found at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/17964281@N08/sets/72157623622040402/show/

One of the most exciting trends in news is the opening of dialogue between journalists and community members. How the landscape is reconfigured will depend on ideas and demands for coverage from the communities we hope to serve.

With this in mind, two forums in March in California’s Bay Area will provide space and time for an open conversation among community representatives, nonprofit organizations, citizen journalists and media professionals. A core question posed by these forums will be: How are we to achieve an inclusive new-media system?

The goal of these forums is to bring together local stakeholders to explore new ways to practice local journalism that:

– Acknowledges a changing journalism ecosystem
– Builds the influence of community, citizen and new media while honoring journalism ethics and principles
– Opens up new platforms for more diverse voices to reach wider audiences, especially by using new technologies and social networking strategies
– Elevates local models and best practices that can be shared nationally

Forum Discussion Areas

Media Representation and Accountability

Ownership and Diversity of Media Outlets

Regulation, Policy and What’s at Stake for Communities

Community Engagement in Shaping the New Media Landscape

Outcomes

The two community dialogues will result in a report to be presented to national and regional leaders of the Society of Professional Journalists at the Journalism Innovations III/Regional conference in May. The report will be used to start conversations with these leaders about how all journalists can use this time of media transformation to improve coverage of their respective local and regional communities. It also will be used to emphasize the need to cover and write about the changing media in a way the public understands and that enables community and news stakeholders to participate in public policy decisions.

The report will also provide the basis for a plenary session at the conference, a database of community and journalist participants, and a map for building stronger relationships amongst local journalism stakeholders.

We hope you can join us:
Details

San Francisco Forum
San Francisco Public Library
100 Larkin St.
San Francisco, CA
March 24, 2010, 5-7:30 PM

East Bay Forum:
Laney College Auditorium
900 Fallon St
Oakland, CA
March 30, 2010, 5-7:30 PM

Contact:

Kwan Booth
(510.290.8274)
Conference Producer
(415) 738-4975
JI3@artsandmedia.net

http://journalisminnovations.org

By Leo E. Laurence, J.D.; Member: SPJ National Diversity Committee and Latino Journalists of California; editor: San Diego News Service. E-mail: leopowerhere@msn.com.

San Dieo — Southwest, so-called “Mexican,” restaurants and fast-food places are found in every city, but many serve an “Americanized” menu.

A 30-year-old handsome Mexican is running perhaps one of the most unique Mexican restaurants here, that again demonstrates that diversity in a business can lead to a huge success.

Juan Pablo Sanchez operates the Super-Cocina (translated: Super-Food) restaurant in the multi-ethnic City Heights neighborhood of San Diego. It’s located at 3627 University Avenue.

He took over from his father, Fernando, about five years ago. He holds a degree in political science from the University of California at San Diego.

Sanchez had an unusual idea for operating his restaurant: He decided NOT to hire professional cooks. Instead, he hires only local housewives who cook the 180 dishes on the basic menu; and who cook as if they were at home. It brings new meaning to the often abused marketing phrase: “home-cooking.”

With only housewives doing the cooking, the same dish can taste differently one day to the next, just like in the cooks’ homes.

The system works. His customers are a very diverse community. While Latinos remain the core, repeat clientele at Super-Cocina, about 60 percent of the patrons “now range from lots of Anglos to foreign-born immigrants from India, Vietnam, China, Taiwan and even Greece,” Sanchez said in an interview for this report. “The diversity of our customers has increased dramatically (in the past year),” he added.

“When I tell my Anglo friends about Super-Cocina, I’m surprised how many already know about it,” says Ezequiel Serrano Gonzales, 27, of Hillcrest, about five miles from the City Heights location of the unique restaurant.

One of the more popular items on the varied menu doesn’t even sound Mexican. “Chile Colorado.” It is spelled the same in Spanish or English.

Every day there are about 10 different Mexican dishes on the menu, all prepared by housewives in the restaurant’s, large kitchen.

Super-Cocina is decorated as if it were in “La Cuidad de Mexico” (Mexico City). Indeed, Sanchez often returns to the Mexican capital where he buys herbs and spices that are not found in the United States.

With a widely diverse customer base and the restaurant’s popularity spreading city-wide, it now has a growing, catering service; about 70 percent are corporate and non-profits.

From a list of 180 different dishes, 18 are offered every day plus an ala carte, Sanchez reports.

At least ten other items are also provided for breakfast.

“The food really tastes like it was prepared in a home in the interior of Mexico,” says Martin Bricksonof San Diego, a retired engineer who once lived deep inside the country.

Contact Leo Laurence at leopowerhere@msn.com

By Leo E. Laurence, J.D.; Member: SPJ National Diversity Committee and  Latino Journalists of California; editor: San Diego News Service. E-mail: leopowerhere@msn.com

San Diego – The closest I even came to getting killed in decades as a working journalist was when I was covered a mafia “hit” in L.A., and the probability of actually getting shot was really nil as local detectives provided cover for me.

But if you are a daring journalist in Mexico and you print, broadcast or go online and tell the real story of the drug cartels, the probability of getting killed is actually quite high.

In the United States, with declining revenues and print circulation, some in the media worry that we are no longer relevant to people’s lives. Indeed, a survey by the respected Pew Research Center showed that 63 percent of the respondents said news articles were often inaccurate, and only 29 percent reported that the media generally “get the facts right.”

In Mexico, the media remains extremely relevant. But if reporters anger the wrong people, it could cost them their lives.

José Luis Romero was a 40-year-old radio reporter who broadcast from the state of Sinaloa where lots of the illicit drugs are produced. A few weeks ago, Romero was abducted from a restaurant at gunpoint. His body was found later along a deserted highway.

Valentín Valdés Espinosa, 29 — another reporter who covered the drug cartels – was kidnapped, tortured and killed in the Mexican state of Coahuila just a few weeks ago. A message was attached to the body that read, “This is going to happen to those who don’t understand. This message is for everyone.”

Mexico’s Human Rights Commission estimates that 59 journalsits have been murdered since 2000. Last year, 11 were assassinated.

These executions are done very publicly to scare off the media. Mexican officials believe the drug cartels are responsible for the murder of José Alberto Velázquez López, owner of the Mexican newspaper, “Expresiones de Tulum,” after leaving a Christmas party.

The major newspaper in the Mexican state of Coahuila, “Zócalo de Saltillo,” recently decided to stop covering stories of drug violance totally rather than risk the lives of its reporters.

Mexican journalists are refusing to run or hide. Some are actually encouraged that their stories are rattling the drug bosses.

In this country, some reporters are called courageous for reporting that a politican plays poker or has an affair with a lobbyist. That’s not courage. It’s timid. Going to work every day and covering the truth, even when it might get you killed . . . now that’s courage!

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Blogger: leopowerhere@msn.com

By Leo E. Laurence, J.D.; Member: SPJ National Diversity Committee and Latino Journalists of California; editor: San Diego News Service. E-mail: leopowerhere@msn.com

Growing up in the 40s in the small village of Monroe, New York, near the West Point Military Academy and about 40 miles above New York City, I had little exposure to minorities.

My local Masonic Lodge was an all-white fraternal organization in a mostly white community.

My life as a journalist began in 1948 with the daily Middletown Times Herald (now the Times-Herald Record) after a New York State Trooper, Jack Kennedy, became my mentor.

I was thrilled, therefore, when I joined the Navy and was suddenly living with guys who looked and talked differently. Now I’m active in diversity issues, served five years as a “bombero” (Mexican firefighter) and can speak Spanish.

I returned to my hometown of Monroe to handle the news coverage of an appearence of the Masonic Grand Master of the State of Year York. He dedicated my Masonic lodge (Cornerstone #711) as the state’s first official Masonic historic building.

In the days of the Revolutionary War, the only way to get from New York City to the state capitol in Albany, was by stage coach. After a hard, one-day ride into the foothills of the Catskill Mountains, weary passengers arrived in Monroe (old maps spell it “Munro”). They rested at the large, stately, “John McGarrah Stagecoach Inn,” which is now the Cornerstone Historic Masonic Building.

Knowing the all-white history of Monroe, I was pleasantly surprised to find a Latino Mason in a leadership position in the lodge.

While walking down Lake Street, the sole main street in the village, I saw two young Mexican men approaching.

“Buenos Dias,” I said to them as we passed each other.

The young men seemed totally surprised.

“My god, he spoke Spanish to us,” one said to the other. Natives rarely speak that language.

I was also surprised to discover a significantly large Latino community in little Monroe and several prosperous Mexican restaurants.

In the Navy I visited Beirut, Lebanon, and found a large, elegant building with a Masonic sign in front. After making inquiries, the local Lebanese Masons treated me to a royal tour of their city and took me to the historic city of Damascus, where I rode a camel for the first time.

The diversity of the “Free & Accepted Masons” is as wide as the world. Local Masons repeatedly hosted me in a royal style in Barcelona, Madrid, Monaco, Rome, Athens, Paris and Munich.

Diversity will make any organization or newsroom stronger in some of the most unexpected ways.

Contact Leo Laurence at leopowerhere@msn.com