Should the SF Chronicle Be Proud of its Award?Angela Chan and Martha Bridegambyline‚ Jun. 19‚ 2009On Sunday, the San Francisco Chronicle reported its crime writer, Jaxon Van Derbeken, had received a journalism award for “Excellence in the Coverage of Immigration.” The presenting organization was the innocuously titled Center for Immigration Studies (CIS). From the blandly favorable news story, you wouldn't have known CIS is strongly anti-immigrant. The Chronicle described CIS as an “independent research group that studies the effects of immigration.” But the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), a prominent civil rights group, describes them differently - as “the nativist lobby's supposedly 'independent' think tank,” and says CIS “has never found any aspect of immigration it likes.” SPLC explains, “CIS was started in 1985 by a Michigan ophthalmologist named John Tanton — a man known for his racist statements about Latinos, his decades-long flirtation with white nationalists and Holocaust deniers, and his publication of ugly racist materials.” |