May 1st March Coalition Condemns KHOU’s Coverage of Immigration and The Use of The Term “Illegal Immigrant”
May 1st March Coalition Condemns KHOU’s Coverage of Immigration and The Use of The Term “Illegal Immigrant”
Description: Twenty community organizations endorse a letter to KHOU condemning its coverage as biased and condemning its description of May Day as an “illegal immigration march”
In the letter, the organizations did recognize KHOU’s coverage of the May Day rally, but were dismayed with the description of the May Day March as “illegal immigration rallies,” in its news broadcast.
In the letter, the coalition condemns the use of the term illegal immigrant:
“This term speaks nothing of the contributions of migrants and places the onus for civil immigration infractions on the workers. The term dismisses millions in wages that corporations have saved by being the main benefactors of such labor and the millions that consumers have saved by enjoying products and services made by the hands of undocumented workers. The vast majority of these “illegals,” as your newscast would have us call them, are economic refugees, responsible for one of the lowest costs of living in any metropolitan city in the nation.”
The coalition promises to continue monitoring KHOU’s coverage of the immigration issue. Keith Connors, responded quickly and graciously, promising to review the broadcast and offered to meet with members of the coalition to discuss concerns, and differences regarding the term “illegal immigrant,” which members of the coalition feel is inherently biased.
Some member organizations of the coalition are considering a campaign against the term “illegal immigrant” because they believe the term to be inherently biased and inappropriate for use in mainstream media.
The broadcast can be viewed at
Contact Information:
Hector A. Chavana Jr
Hector A. Chavana Jr
La Raza Justice Movement
###
La Raza Justice Movement (LRJM), CRECEN, Alianza Mexicana, America for All and more than a dozen other groups endorsed a letter yesterday, condemning KHOU’s what they perceived as a lack of coverage on the issue of immigration over the past several months.